Jan 19, 2008, 6:59 GMT
Sydney - Australians are quite literally watching the end of the worst drought on record with big crowds gathering Saturday at Queensland's second-biggest reservoir.
The Fairbairn Dam in Emerald, less than a quarter full 12 months ago, can't contain recent heavy rains.
'It looks fantastic,' said Glen Pfluger, spokesman for water utility SunWater. 'We've got probably 1,000 or so people lining the roads watching it go over.'
Some sightseers were not even born when the Fairbairn was last full.
'Obviously many of them are young kids, they've probably never seen it happen before, so it's really an event that's happening in Emerald that hasn't happened in 17 years,' he said.
Further north in Charleville, 750 kilometres west of Brisbane, parts of the town are underwater and hundreds of residents have had to leave because of fears levees could break.
Mark O'Brien, mayor of a town that has recorded 104 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, said Charleville would be in serious trouble if the Warrego River overflowed.
'If it rains heavily tonight, then the river will peak here on Monday,' O'Brien said. 'We've been crying out for rain, but it's one of those times when rain has been forecast and we hope the forecast is wrong.'
More than a quarter of the nation's 130,000 farming families are receiving cash from the government to help them cope with the most severe drought they have ever seen.
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