Australia floods: floodwaters the size of Luxembourg bearing down on Australian towns

Australia is facing more flood chaos as a 'floodwater lake' the size of Luxembourg is bearing down on scores of towns in the southern Australian state of Victoria, threatening tens of thousands of homes.

Residents in the town of Beaufort, west of Melbourne are inundated by a flash flood which cut the town off from the main highway, Victoria Photo: EPA

By Bonnie Malkin, Sydney 12:48PM GMT 24 Jan 2011

Over the past two weeks, swollen rivers following torrential rains have merged to create a flood zone measuring 55 miles long and 24 miles wide.

More than 70 communities and 4400 people have already been affected by widespread flooding across the state and many more are expected to be swamped as the mass of water moves downstream towards the sea.

As the flood advanced through the countryside on Monday, the residents of Swan Hill, which lies directly in its path, were rushing to protect their homes before the Loddon River peaks at 16ft on Thursday.

Over the next few days more than 120,000 sandbags will be dropped into the town, which is expected to be cut off for several days once the floods hit. They are in such high demand that several sandbags placed on a levee were stolen over the weekend, presumably be home owners desperate to safeguard their properties.

While the residents of Swan Hill waited to see if the town levee would hold, emergency officials were preparing for potential flooding further along the Murray River – a vital lifeline in the southeast which had been hard hit by a recent protracted drought.

Authorities were trying to determine which towns along the river system could be at risk of flooding.

The city of Mildura, which is perched on the river and is home to 50,000 people, is bracing for potential flooding, with the Murray already flowing at very high levels due to unprecedented rain.

Tim Wiebusch from the State Emergency Service (SES) said the flood threat in Victoria was likely to continue for weeks.

"It really is like an inland sea heading towards these smaller communities, filling up lakes that haven't been filled for quite some time and then slowly progressing towards Swan Hill."

The wide-scale flooding, which has killed more than 30 people in Queensland and has become the nation's most expensive natural disaster in history, has started to affect food prices.

Several large supermarkets have warned that they may have to start importing fruit and vegetables that are usually grown domestically because the floodwaters have wiped out large swathes of agricultural land in both Queensland and Victoria.