This is sobering news from Premier Anna Bligh (Flood recovery kicks into gear):

If you count everything from the cost to homes, the home rebuilding effort, public infrastructure rebuilding effort and economic loss, I think we’re well above $5 billion territory.

Based on the media reporting and commentary, my best guess of the breakdown of the costs at the moment is:

• $2+ billion in damage to houses, roads, bridges, etc (see Floods to leave repair bill running into billions of dollars)
• $1+ billion in lost crops (see Crop losses pass $1 billion)
• $2-3 billion in lost mining output and additional costs to mining companies (see Economies lose billions and Flood disaster to cut GDP by $2.5 billion)

Plus there will be a wide range of flow-on impacts – for example:

Meatworks suffer from floods

Whitsunday tourism falls

And the rain and floods aren’t over yet:

Get set for more wet

St George set to fight floodwaters

Treasurer Andrew Fraser was close to the mark when he called the floods “biblical.”