Nature intended the land to flood. This country has flooded since time began and the top soil is still here, not in NSW or Victoria. One of our problems is the land is so flat, the water is not draining quick enough; no fast flowing water = very little errosion. Aside from minor errosion on road embankments, half kilometer total errosion of the rail embankment between Barcaldine and Longreach etc, there is very little errosion that I've seen.
What cotton harvest? There is cotton at Dalby, largely unaffected by the rains. There has been no large scale cotton plantings west and south of Dalby for a couple of years due to the drought. Why do you think Cubby got into financial problems? A couple of grape farms at St George are innundated, but that won't do too much harm as the grape harvest is over.
Just had a call from St George. The flood will peak around 14 meters. The main highway through town is not flooded, most of the flooding being along the weir banks and at the weir end to the west of town.
Aside from the personal tragedy of having some homes and businesses flooded, the flood will be good for this country. 32% of employment in the Maranoa is still agricultural based.