Southeast Australia set for another week of floods [January 24 2011]

MELBOURNE, Australia – Australia's deadly flood crisis forced more people to flee their homes Monday as a vast swath of muddy water spread further across the country's southeast, threatening to swamp several rural communities. Record rains that began in November left huge parts of Australia's northeast Queensland state under water, killing 30 people, damaging or destroying 30,000 homes and businesses and causing at least 3 billion Australian dollars ($3 billion) in damage to crops and lost coal exports.

The flood disaster is now moving across southeast Victoria State, where driving rains have forced swollen rivers over their banks. he State Emergency Service has warned that a vast inland sea about 55 miles (90 kilometers) long northwest of the Victorian capital of Melbourne will continue coursing inland for the next week until it spills into the Murray River.

Emergency services were focusing their efforts 210 miles (340 kilometers) northwest of Melbourne at Swan Hill, a town of 10,000 where the Murray meets the swollen Loddon River and flood waters are expected to peak mid week, the State Emergency Service said. Volunteers have spent the past 10 days piling tens of thousands of sandbags around the community, Mayor Greg Cruickshank said today.