LEAD: Australian town empties ahead of record flood

Feb 6, 2012, 4:04 GMT

Sydney - St George was deserted Monday as the river running through the east-coast town reached record levels and floodwaters crept up to overwhelm its levee.

Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh ordered the 3,800 residents to leave on Sunday, saying water would soon submerge the only road out.

'The town of St George has no prospect of holding back that water with the levee that they built,' Bligh said, noting that the flood level indicator was at 13.48 metres. 'We expect it'll continue rising for most of the day and exceed the 14-metre mark tonight.'

But local mayor Donna Stewart was more sanguine, saying frantic work had raised the levee at the same time that the Bureau of Meteorology had revised down its estimate of the peak.

'I'm confident we've saved the major part of St George,' she said. 'It's not out of the question it'll go above the 14.5 level but it's more likely not to.'

St George, 500 kilometres west of the state capital Brisbane, is looking at its third flood in as many years.

Some householders defied the order to evacuate, saying it was better to stay and fight the advancing flood than run from it.

Police, emergency services personnel and the military have stayed to monitor the onrush of muddy water, prevent looting and safeguard the stubborn who have stayed on.

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson urged the obdurate to take advantage of free flights out of St George on military aircraft.

'We can't and won't physically force people, drag people out of their homes,' Atkinson said. 'That's not viable or practical.'

Barnaby Joyce, the local member for the federal parliament, said his family had gone but he was staying and offering his house, built on a rise overlooking the Balonne River, as emergency accommodation.

'What I'm looking at is something that would fill Sydney Harbour every two days,' he told national broadcaster ABC. 'It's so quiet that it's a little disturbing. There's something that sounds a little bit like the sea but it's not actually the sea, it's a river and it is just outside the back door.'

The floods claimed their second life, with an 18-month-old girl drowned in flood waters. Also on Sunday, the body of a woman who was swept away with her car was found beneath a bridge in St George.