Ange Lawson can smell the stench of dead rams around her property.
“They were in the gum trees, hanging in trees, up against roots and rocks,” Ms Lawson said from her station, 120 kilometres west of Longreach.
“They wouldn’t have had any chance with the way that water came across. It flattened fences.”
Ange Lawson said they have seven of 80 rams left. (Supplied: Ange Lawson)
In some parts of western Queensland the record floodwaters have subsided, leaving graziers and other property owners to survey the devastation.
A herd of sheep survive rising floodwaters by finding a shrinking patch of higher ground near Windorah. (Suppled: Joe Tully, Tenham Station)
For Shona Underwood and her husband George Scott the clean up is beginning on Thylungra station in Queensland’s Channel Country, between Quilpie and Windorah.
But they have no idea where hundreds of their cattle are.
Thylungra Station in western Queensland resembles an inland ocean. (Supplied)
Mr Scott is too distraught to speak so his wife does the talking.
“We don’t know yet if they’ve drowned, if they’ve floated away. They’ve just seemed to have disappeared,” she said.
“We are terribly upset about stock losses and quite emotional about what the cattle have been through, weaners and calves and mothers.”
A week ago Ms Underwood and her family fled their main home as the rain pelted down and the water rose.
Darcy Underwood with sister Zara and Yella the dog huddle together as the flood disaster unfolds. (Supplied: Shona Underwood)
“The current was so strong. We’ve got little children. That was quite scary because the wind was ferocious,” she said.
Alex Edwards’ family has been on Pinketta station, south of Quilpie, since 1912.
He remembers all the floods since 1974, but this one was “quick and destructive”.
Pinketta Station is 58 kilometres south of Quilpie. (Supplied: Alex Edwards)
“There’s total devastation in places,” he said.
“There are cattle here that have disappeared completely but I’m hoping [we] might find them between here and Thargomindah somewhere.
“But I just think they wouldn’t have been able to cop it.
“Just to see the roos and the wildlife that had no chance of getting out, and the sheep that have floated down from a neighbour’s place and got caught in fences. It’s bloody devastating.
“In 12 to 14 hours you’ve gone from having a reasonable income to nothing.”
Producers like Simone Seidel and her husband have not been able to return to the property they lease, a couple of hundred kilometres south-west of Charleville.
Simone Seidel and her husband left Mount Alfred station last week. (Supplied: Simone Seidel)
“It’s distressing being so far away and not knowing what’s going on,” Ms Seidel said.
While they were hopeful cattle had found higher ground, Ms Seidel said they knew the station’s infrastructure and machinery had been wiped out.
“We’re going to have to rebuild everything,”
she said.
Simone Seidel and her husband fear not being able to return to their property south-west of Charleville for weeks. (Supplied: Simone Seidel)
She was worried the worst was yet to come, financially.
It could be months before they can get trucks in.
“None of us will have any way of selling our cattle for a long, long time,” Ms Seidel said.
Understanding the impact
This expansive flood-ravaged region is more than 1,000 kilometres west of Brisbane.
But the impact will be felt far and wide.
Graziers head to the skies to assess the damage that lies below. (Supplied: Joe Tully, Tenham Station)
“The loss of livestock, there’ll be a shortage of cattle and sheep which will have a knock-on effect to the cities where the prices of their meat will go up,”
Ms Seidel said.
“They are far enough away to not understand the extent of what we are going through and how damaging it is on us.”
Shona Underwood echoed the sentiment.
“We produce food for Australia, and we are such a small population, but we do produce a lot of food for the country,” she said.
“Government should be focused on supporting farmers. There will be a ripple effect and there does need to be more focus and support.”
