© Philip Norrish/AFPA suburb in the Queensland town of Emerald in Australia taken over by flood water yesterday.
Australia started forced evacuations of a major town on Friday as floods that have already affected 200,000 people swamped more communities in the stricken northeast.
As Prime Minister Julia Gillard consoled evacuees, police moved the elderly and those in low-lying areas from Rockhampton, where 4,000 homes are at risk from floods paralysing an area the size of France and Germany combined.
"Police will order people in affected areas to leave their homes," Rockhampton mayor Brad Carter told AAP news agency.
Meanwhile military Blackhawk helicopters evacuated residents and dropped batches of food in Emerald, population 11,000, after 80 percent of the rural town was deluged by mucky waters.
Floods triggered by tropical cyclone Tasha have hit the farming and mining belt near Brisbane particularly hard, cutting road and rail links and crippling the region's all-important coal production.
As river levels continued to rise, some 22 towns were inundated or isolated, with sugar cane centre Bundaberg, known for its rum, divided in two by the floodwaters.
Shops, homes and businesses have been swamped by the murky tide, with cars submerged and caravan parks sitting metres (feet) deep, as residents take to boats and kayaks to negotiate the waters.