At least six people have been killed in Queensland, Australia, in some of the worst floods there this century.
The town of Gympie, 150 kilometres north of Brisbane, has been partly submerged and the Brisbane, Beenleigh and Toowoomba districts have been declared natural disaster areas.
The Mary river at Gympie rose 22 metres, its highest level this century.
Ms Merri Rose, the Queensland Emergency Services Minister, said: "It is impossible to gauge damage and the bill will not be clear until floodwaters recede. However, damage to roads, bridges and culverts will be extensive."
A Gympie City Council spokesman said early estimates of damage had been put at more than $1.25 million in the town alone.
The floodwaters swept a boy, a girl and two men to their deaths in separate incidents in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast hinterland late on Tuesday.
An elderly man drowned on the Gold Coast after falling off a swollen dam, and the body of a missing motorist was found yesterday in a river.
Hundreds of roads have been cut by water and debris, and rail services have been cancelled.
The Brisbane Weather Bureau said yesterday the heavy rain that has hampered rescue efforts had eased but showers are persisting.
The United Nations declared an international appeal for $46 million to help China rebuild schools, industry and agriculture in provinces devastated by floods last summer.
Most of the money would be used for agricultural rehabilitation in the stricken areas. "Let's get the farmers back on their feet as quickly as they can," the UN resident co-ordinator, Ms Kerstin Leitner, said.