Australia has started forced evacuations of a major town in the country's northeast as floods, which have already affected 200,000 people, swamped more communities in the stricken region.
Police moved the elderly and those in low-lying areas from Rockhampton.
Around 4,000 homes are at risk there from floods paralysing a vast area the size of France and Germany combined.
'Police will order people in affected areas to leave their homes,' Rockhampton mayor Brad Carter said.
Meanwhile military Blackhawk helicopters moved residents and dropped batches of food in Emerald, which has a population of 11,000, after 80% of the rural town was deluged by mucky waters.
Floods triggered by tropical cyclone Tasha have hit the farming and mining belt near Brisbane particularly hard. Road and rail links have been cut and the region's all-important coal production crippled.
As river levels continued to rise, some 22 towns were inundated or isolated, with sugar cane centre Bundaberg divided in two by the floodwaters.
Shops, homes and businesses have been swamped by the murky tide, with cars submerged and caravan parks sitting metres deep.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a 'humbling' visit to a Bundaberg evacuation centre sheltering refugees from the floods, who now number in their thousands state-wide.
'As devastating as these floods are, we are seeing a magnificent response by all levels of government and by emergency personnel,' Ms Gillard told reporters.
'The overwhelming sentiment is one of resilience and one of care and concern for their neighbours. That sense of community pulling together, that Australian sense that when times are tough we work together and look after each other.'
Queensland premier Anna Bligh called the situation 'dire' in some parts of the state, which is facing one of its worst ever disasters and a damage bill running into several billions of dollars.
She warned that the crisis was far from over, with some floods set to peak in the coming days and not subsiding for another week.
Relief and clean-up operations will continue for weeks afterwards.
'We now have three major river systems in flood, we have 17 evacuation centres active, we have more than 1,000 people in those evacuation centres, and many more thousands staying with relatives and friends,' Ms Bligh said.
'And we've still got major places like Rockhampton with floodwaters coming down the river and what may well be the biggest flood they've ever experienced. So a lot more to go before we can really say we're in full recovery mode.'
