Asia-Pacific News
LEAD: Testing time for Australian town's new flood defences
Feb 7, 2012, 10:19 GMT
Sydney - Most of the flood-ringed Australian town of St George was safe behind hurriedly built earthworks Tuesday as the Balonne River neared its peak.
But 50 houses outside the 4-kilometre temporary levee protecting the Queensland cotton town had water in them as the river crept up the town's gauge.
It is the third flood in St George, 500 kilometres west of Brisbane, in as many years.
Donna Stewart, the mayor of a settlement that can now only be reached by air, said she was confident that the water would not breach the earth piled up in the past few days.
'It's not going to get there - it's obviously not going to get there,' Stewart told the national broadcaster ABC. 'It's very good news, and I know those people that have been evacuated will be very relieved to hear that.'
All 3,800 residents were ordered out at the weekend, but hundreds have defied the order to be in their homes when the flood tops out.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicted the river would peak 50 centimetres below the height of the earthwork fortifications.
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