Australia flood toll rises

Melbourne: Australia's flood death toll rose on Tuesday with police confirming that remains found in devastated areas of the northeast were human, as rising rivers threatened to swamp more homes in the south.

Queensland police said that the grim find brings to 22 the number of people who have died in that state since January 10, when flash floods swept homes, cars and trees into the rushing waters in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane.

Nine people are still listed as missing after lightning floods which forced people on to the roofs of their homes and cars and plucked children from their carers' arms.

"The thorough search for people missing from the Lockyer Valley is ongoing," Queensland Police said in a statement, which said that 35 people had died in that state in flood-related incidents since November 30.

Record rainfall across eastern Australia, triggered by a strong La Nina system, generated massive flood zones in the north in December, with the waters eventually making their way to Brisbane and flooding thousands of homes.

The same weather system is blamed for torrential rains which hit the southeastern state of Victoria in January, giving some areas a year's rainfall in 24 hours, which have inundated a large area in that state's northwest.

The Victorian floodwaters are threatening small farming communities, and prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents this month, with reports that several homes have flooded as levees failed.

"The water is just coming in that quick, we just can't get a ahead of it at the moment," local Peter Laursen told ABC Radio from Murrabit.

"We are holding it in one area, but we just believe there is a lot more water to come."

State Emergency Service officials said the floodwaters were rising more slowly than expected, and this could mean they would have a lesser impact in terms of speed and height.

"It also means it's spreading out over a wider area down in the lower areas and that's going to result in more areas being inundated for potentially longer periods," SES deputy incident controller Keith Favelly said.

The Victorian floods are estimated to have killed at least 6,000 sheep and washed away 41,000 hectares of crops, costing the agricultural sector as much as $Aus2 billion in lost production and damaged infrastructure.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said the Queensland floods were 'the biggest natural disaster in our history' in economic terms but added that the rebuilding process would ultimately act as a stimulus to the economy.

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