Four people were dead Tuesday and two missing after a storm engorged rivers and flooded homes along 700 kilometres of Australia's east coast. Floodwaters have inundated more than 2,500 properties from the Queensland sugar town of Bundaberg to the resort of Coffs Harbour in the south. Thousands faced a third night in evacuation centers, many having lost homes, cars and other possessions in some of the worst flooding on record. "Their hearts have been ripped out, leaving their most precious possessions behind," Queensland state Emergency Services Minister Jack Dempsey said in Bundaberg. "They're simply looking to each other for comfort." Bundaberg, a city of 70,000, could only be reached by air. Flooding closed the local hospital, forcing the military to use Hercules transport planes to evacuate patients to hospitals in Brisbane. Fourteen helicopters were busy plucking people from rooftop and high ground to take them to evacuation centers. The river that runs through Bundaberg, 385 kilometres north of Brisbane, peaked at a record 9.5 metres. Officials said the storms had passed and the worst of the flooding may be over, according to a report of DPA.
