BRISBANE, Australia, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The soldier heading the flood recovery effort in eastern Australia said Saturday he hopes to leave Queensland better prepared for the next time the rivers rise.
Maj. Gen. Mick Slater, who was in command of troops in Townsville when Cyclone Larry hit North Queensland in March 2006, was named this week as head of the flood task force. He talked to The Courier-Mail of Brisbane about the task ahead.
"We need to make sure the rebuilding prepares us better for the next flood than we were for this one," he said. "Unfortunately you can't flood-proof Queensland but you can be smart about how you repair and where you repair roads and bridges and railways."
The floods that began in December have taken at least 10 lives and caused millions of dollars in damage.
Slater said rebuilding will take months or years and that means setting priorities. For example, he said repairing the Bruce Highway, the state's main north-south artery, must go to the top of the list but so does repairing some back-country roads critical for getting cattle to market.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who visited St. George and Rockhampton on Saturday, said the federal government has already budgeted money for highway repairs, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. She said creating a flood-proof Bruce Highway is a long-range goal.
