There has been talk of stock losses of 300,000 to half a million head but animals are still dying so we don’t know exactly what the scale of the losses will be.

It is a national disaster which would represent a loss of one to two per cent of the national herd which will have profound consequences.

When I asked the Prime Minister directly on Friday did we know the scale of the losses, he had to admit we still simply don’t know, and probably the safest answer given that producers were telling me their cattle were still dying a week after the floods went down.

“I’ve been talking to producers today, they don’t know,” the PM said.

“Some are losing 80 and 100 percent of stock, it’s the worst this district has seen.”

Mr Morrison said the combination of the floods and then the wind caused significant losses on some properties.

“What killed their herd was the exposure,” he said.

“The combination of that and the floods was deadly.”

It was a sobering message but it was good he was on the ground to give that message and it can only help with any further response from Canberra.

And he was more optimistic when talking of the need to rebuild, saying that the North West could get back to where it was, if not in a better position, in five to ten years time.

That possibility of betterment was also raised by Maj-Gen Stuart Smith, Queensland’s disaster recovery coordinator, who I spoke with on Wednesday.

Maj-Gen Smith will have the mammoth task of putting together a state recovery plan.

As for Mr Morrison, it was good to see him out of the Canberra bubble and not in the annoying “shouty” mode he often adopts in parliament.

Though some of our readers questioned his ability to carry out any promises – a legitimate concern given the opinion polls – his visit will help a more informed view of the scale of the problem and what must must be done next – Derek Barry