Nick Bryant: "What we're seeing is a community coming out in force to salvage what they can"
The Australian city of Brisbane is preparing for the worst of its devastating floods, with water levels now reaching peak levels.
The peak, predicted to start at 0400 on Thursday (1800GMT Wednesday), has been revised down to below 5m, compared with 5.4m (17.7ft) in the 1974 floods.
But Queensland's Premier Anna Bligh warned many would still wake to scenes they had never seen in their lives.
The death toll in Queensland is 12 so far, with dozens reported missing.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard called the disaster's scale "mind-boggling".
Ms Bligh said: "We are now in the grip of a very serious natural disaster.
"We are now seeing thousands of homes inundated with water up to the roof. Many, many more are expected to see significant water damage."
She said 20,000 to 30,000 people would be affected in Brisbane.
At the scene
The owners of shops and cafes in one of the lower-lying communities in Brisbane have been putting sandbags out throughout the day, but the waters have risen above them and are wrecking their properties.
The only way to get around these communities at the moment, as the police are doing, is in metal boats - tinnies, as they're called locally. We've seen a lot of them across Queensland recently.
There are still dozens of people missing, not in Brisbane but further inland. Toowoomba saw such extraordinary scenes on Monday afternoon, when flash flooding ripped through - cars were overturned, just swept through - all the more remarkable because Toowoomba doesn't have a river. That's why state premier Anna Bligh called it a freak of nature.
Dozens of people are still feared missing - whole families in some instances. The search operation is still ongoing.
The Bureau of Meteorology reported the water level at 0330 local time on Thursday in Brisbane was 4.45m. "A peak slightly above this level is expected in the next few hours," it said.
Levels will remain high during Thursday but are not expected to exceed 4.6m.
Although below the 1974 level, Ms Bligh said: "This is still a major event, the city is much bigger, much more populated and has many parts under flood that didn't even exist in 1974.
"We are still looking at an event which will cripple parts of our city."
She added: "Brisbane will go to sleep tonight and wake up to scenes that many of them have never seen anything like in their lives."
Speaking to the BBC overnight, Hussain Mohammed, a student in Brisbane, said: "It's dark. There is no power at all. All the lights are down. You can barely see anyone walking in the street. You can count the cars on your hand. The movement of the water in the river is very fast, and it can burst at any time."
Brisbane's Gateway Bridges were closed and reopened twice overnight amid fears that floating debris could cause damage, the Brisbane Courier Mail reported.
During the day on Wednesday, the central business district escaped serious flooding, with the slightly lower level of water than forecast.
However, boats and pontoons still floated down the roaring Brisbane river, along with massive amounts of debris.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said he had "a sense of horror and awe about the power of the river".
"At the moment we are seeing pontoons and people's boats... sadly in the coming hours we might be seeing bits of people's houses... and that breaks my heart.''
The central district is still in danger given Thursday's high sea tide.
However, the Wivenhoe and Somerset dams have now reduced the amount of water they are being forced to release to ease pressure, and this should help cut the overall flood peak.
The city's South Brisbane and West End districts have already been badly hit. In all, more than 50 suburbs and 2,100 roads could be left under water.
Many supermarkets in the city have been stripped of supplies, while a number of rubbish collections and bus services have halted.
More than 100,000 properties had their power cut as a precaution against flooding of electricity substations.
Click to play
A boat swept down the swollen Brisbane river sinks after hitting a bridge
Leisa Bourne of Red Cross Queensland told the BBC the city's residents had been orderly in preparing their evacuation plans during the day on Wednesday but she expected an influx of people to evacuation centres as the flood reached its peak.
'Completely unrecognisable'West of Brisbane in the city of Ipswich, the Bremer river peaked at 19.4m on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology reported.
About 1,000 homes were inundated and 7,500 more affected, the Queensland Times reported.
More than 1,000 people are in evacuation centres there.
Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale said he expected flood levels to drop within the next 36 hours, allowing the clean-up to begin afterwards.
"If I find anybody looting in our city, they will be used as flood markers," he warned.
One man found dead in his car in Ipswich has not yet been included in the death toll of 12.
Ms Bligh said: "There are some parts of Brisbane and Ipswich which are already completely unrecognisable."
Water levels are expected to stay high in Brisbane until Saturday.
However Ms Bligh vowed the state would get back on its feet swiftly.
"We believe we can recover very quickly. That is our intention," she said.
Ms Gillard urged Australians to look out for their neighbours.
"If there's someone in your street you're worried about, maybe an older Australian that you haven't seen for a while, maybe give them a knock on the door and make sure they're okay."
The worst affected area was the town of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, where residents described an "instant inland tsunami" of 8m ripping through the streets on Monday.
One good piece of news on Wednesday was that the number of missing in the Lockyer Valley had been revised down from 51 to 43, but there were grave fears for nine.
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