Queensland Flood Disaster, 16 die in Qld floods, 60 missing


The premier braced Queensland for a potentially dramatic rise in the death toll from flash flooding.
A four-year-old boy's death during an attempt to rescue his family has taken the Queensland floods death toll to  16, with 60 people still missing.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the number of missing people had risen to 60 , with grave concerns held for 18 people.
The four-year-old boy was swept away in floodwaters at Marburg, west of Brisbane.
"The best advice we have at this stage is that this boy's life was lost during an attempt to rescue him and his family," Ms Bligh told reporters on Tuesday night.
Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said the boy had fallen out of a boat.
"We've just found out a four-year-old-boy has fallen out of a boat and they've just found the body," Mr Pisasale told the ABC.
Ms Bligh said the number of missing people had risen from 59 to 78.
"Clearly as we get more information from families looking for their loved ones, these numbers are going to fluctuate."
She said there were now grave concerns for 18 people.
Authorities have thrown their resources at Brisbane and Ipswich.
"We have every available resource deployed to assist them over the next couple of days," Ms Bligh said.
"Our police, our fire and rescue, our emergency services have all temporarily ceased all non-essential duties and deployed people directly onto the front lines."

The Brisbane River is expected to peak on Thursday, with Ms Bligh saying it would likely remain that high through to Saturday.


"When the river in Brisbane does peak it is likely to stay at and around that peak until Saturday ...," Ms Bligh said.
"Many roads will be cut off, clearly many people won't be able to get to work or access the shops."

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