“We have declared force majeure on a number of coal export vessels from the Port of Gladstone as a result of flood damage to the Blackwater rail system,” an Xstrata spokesperson told ILN.

“We are monitoring the situation and are in close contact with Aurizon, the network operator.”

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said the damage to infrastructure and the disruption to shifts from workers being cut off from transport would impact on the industry’s ability to operate at peak performance.

“We are receiving reports of significant damage to the Blackwater and Moura rail systems that carry coal from the southern and central Bowen Basin to the Port of Gladstone, where operations have also been hampered by around 800mm of rain,” he said.

“While the situation is still being assessed by network operator Aurizon, these rail lines to Gladstone could be out of action for up to seven to 10 days.”

Roche said that despite falls of 200-400mm in the northern Bowen Basin, mines were generally into recovery mode with continuing access to the rail systems serving the Abbot Point and Port of Hay Point export terminals.

“This recovery process will take several days and will result in some loss of coal production but that is not unusual in the Queensland wet season,” he said.

“Coal production was also hampered throughout the state by road closures preventing employees getting to and from work and also by the need for some employees to stay with their families in flood-affected communities.

“By and large normal operations are resuming today [Tuesday] but as always, the resumption of normal production will be determined by the safe operation of the mines.”

Roche said it did not appear the coal industry suffered as much damage as in the 2010-11 floods but it was also clear that the legacy water issue from that time had not been eased because of the extreme rainfall recorded over recent days.

All of the coal companies in Queensland are accustomed to dealing with tropical weather and after the 2010-11 floods had reinforced their flood defences, according to a research note by Paterson Securities.

The 2010-11 floods knocked out the mining and transportation of coal for a rolling period of about three months.

“However, with the price of coking coal already rising over the past two months, this added concern about supply disruptions is likely to see the price rises continue past $170 a tonne,” Patersons said.

It said in terms of companies impacted, the candidates to watch were New Hope Coal and Tiaro Coal Mines.

“NHC has all of its current operations in the Surat and West Moreton which use the western line,” Patersons said.

“Its operations near Ipswich are likely going to be disrupted due to the local flooding as well as the closure of the western line.

“Bundaberg is subject to major flooding and TCM has its exploration and development activities in the region to the south of Bundaberg and may suffer from the regional flooding – likely delays in access and drilling.”

Roche rejected claims by some anti-coal activists that approved mine water discharges could be adding to flooding downstream.

“The amount of water being discharged by coal mines in the Fitzroy Basin is like adding a thimbleful of water to an Olympic swimming pool,” he said.