With water lapping the top of the earthen defences, there were fears on yesterday morning that the levees could be breached, sending a catastrophic tidal wave of water through the town.

But the Premier, who visited the flood region yesterday, said it looked as though the banks would hold.

``Right now the levee is holding and on all current forecasts it's likely to keep doing that, but there's not very much room for error,'' Ms Bligh said.

``There's a 24-hour watch on the levee and if there's any change we'll be actioning it immediately.''

More than 500 people were to spend last night in the town's evacuation centres.

``Right now their homes are dry, but they'll be sleeping in the evacuation centres tonight just as a precaution, and that's the right thing to do,'' the Premier said.

Ms Bligh said the people of Charleville were coping with their third major flood in as many years.

``That's too many, and there's a lot of heartache here today.

``I've spoken to people who are very close to tears and they certainly don't want to see those floodwaters come over the levee.

``Right now though it's very pleasing to see that levee holding those waters back, the last time the waters got to this level there was no levee in town and the water was devastating Charleville . . . the levee has never been tested like this and we'll see what it's made of.''