Brisbane (Australia) battles flood devastation

Large parts of Brisbane remained submerged Thursday after floodwaters swept through, claiming yet another life.

The death toll from the flooding was 15, Queensland police confirmed Thursday.

More than 70 people were missing and officials predicted that the toll would rise as rescue workers are able to enter buildings that are currently underwater.

The floods started after the Brisbane River peaked about a meter short of the 1974 flood record.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh talked about the devastation the floods caused during a news conference Thursday morning.

Satellite view "This morning, thousands of people in southeast Queensland have awakened to the unbearable agony of their homes being devastated, their businesses, their workplaces being devastated and, for some people, they've seen both their workplaces and their homes washed away," Bligh told reporters.

Aerial views of Brisbane showed islands of roofs and treetops jutting from a sea of muddy brown water -- or stranded high-rises jutting starkly from murky river overflow.

"I could see hundreds of roofs yesterday and that's all I could see was those rooftops ... underneath every one of those roofs is a family, underneath every one of those roofs is a horror story," Bligh said about her flyover of the affected area.

The Brisbane, which slices through the center of its eponymous city, peaked at 4.6 meters (just over 15 feet) overnight, but could rise again when the tide turns in the afternoon.

Officials had predicted a crest at 5.2 meters -- and nearly 20,000 homes fully engulfed by the water.

But Bligh said 11,900 homes in Brisbane were fully flooded and 14,700 were partially flooded. In addition, about 2,500 businesses were fully inundated and 2,500 more were partially inundated, she said. Many of them will never again be habitable, she said.

Electricity was cut to 37 substations in the Central Business District, and 118,000 residences were without electricity. Temporary mobile phone towers were being erected to restore cell phone service, which was spotty or nonexistent in many areas.

"As we weep for what we have lost and as we grieve for family and friends, and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are -- we are Queenslanders," Bligh said. "We are the ones that they knock down and we get up again."

The flooding in Brisbane follows flooding elsewhere in the state. Soon after Christmas, water from torrential rains swamped the northern city of Rockhampton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Brisbane, triggering a massive recovery operation to rebuild the town. Those floodwaters have been sweeping toward the coasts since that time.

So far, 70 towns and cities in Queensland have been affected by the flood, Bligh said.

"Either inundated or cut off from major supply lines and isolated for weeks."