A state of emergency has been declared in Townsville in the Queensland state of Australia, triggering relief funding under state and joint federal-state disaster programmes.

Torrential rains deluged the region, located some 930 miles (1,500 kilometres) north of Brisbane, forcing the closure of roads and breaking power and telephones lines in some areas.

Emergency workers are searching for up to 20 missing people after about two feet (60cms) of rain fell overnight on Townsville.

Water runs through a filling station

One of the missing, a man in a wheelchair, is believed to have been swept down a drainage pipe.

The flooding was the worst disaster to hit the city of 120,000 people in 27 years.

Queensland State Emergency Services co-ordinator, Alan Lee, said: "We've got between ten and 20 people reported missing, but no recorded deaths yet. No bodies have been found."

The airport and railway station were closed, with more rains expected, Mr Lee said.

Two eyewitnesses describe the devastation caused by the flash floods (0'33")

About 120 people left homeless by the flash floods sought refuge in state emergency shelters. Hundreds more were forced to stay with friends or relatives.

Australians find a new way to surf

Two men staying on nearby Magnetic Island, where an entire wing of a resort hotel was damaged by a rockslide, were among the missing, Townsville police sergeant Frank Bebernitz said.

"This is the worst disaster to hit the city since the terrible cyclone of 1971," said the town's mayor, Tom Mooney.

It was the heaviest downpour ever recorded in the city and was equivalent to half its normal annual rainfall.

Dozens of people were moved from low lying areas, and the army supplied all-terrain vehicles and helicopters to take them to an evacuation centre in the city.

The flood worsened when an exceptionally high tide of about 12ft (four metres) stopped floodwaters from flowing into the sea.

The bad weather was being felt along the entire length of the Queensland coast, normally popular with holidaymakers during the Australian summer.

Many beaches were closed for a second day as mountainous, churning surf crested at up to seven feet (two metres).
 

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