Flash floods have hit Queensland, killing at least four people with several more missing, as heavy rains continue to pound the Australian state.
A massive deluge overwhelmed Toowoomba, a city west of the state capital Brisbane, without warning.
Cars were swept away by the torrent of water.
State Premier Anna Bligh called the flash floods Queensland's "darkest hour" since the flood crisis began.
"The event that started in Toowoomba can only be described as a complete freak of nature, an extraordinary deluge that almost came out of nowhere," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted her as saying.
"What we have here in Queensland tonight is a very grim and desperate situation."
Helicopters have joined the rescue operation to reach those trapped in cars and on the roofs of buildings.
The tropical storms began in November, triggering the worst flooding in the state in decades. Some 200,000 people have been affected across Queensland.
The flooding has been so widespread that while some communities are still bracing themselves for the worst, in others the clean-up is well under way.
The forecast is for more rain to come, and there are reports of flooding in neighbouring New South Wales.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned that the recovery will take a long time.
'No warning'Police said a woman and child died in Toowoomba when their car was swept away, and a man and a boy died after being swept from their house.
Several more people remain unaccounted for.
Toowoomba's mayor described the scale of the floods as "unbelievable'' and said the city was in shock.
Residents said the flash floods had devastated the town Mayor Peter Taylor said: ''It's a real disaster scene where I'm standing at the moment in Russell Street, Toowoomba. There's furniture and furnishings and it's just blown shops away.
''We have a railway line about 60 or 70m (230ft) suspended in mid-air and two cars that are virtually unrecognisable that have floated and smashed into the rail.''
Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said there had been many calls from people needing to be rescued and that emergency crews were struggling to cope.
"We've had multiple calls requesting urgent assistance from people caught in vehicles, caught on the street, caught in flood ways," he said.
"It is an evolving and obviously quite desperate situation for them," he said. "There has been no warning of this event."
This is some of the most violent and frightening flooding that Queensland has yet witnessed, says the BBC's correspondent in Australia, Nick Bryant.
One eyewitness said vehicles were being swept down streets.
"One car we did see come down with its lights on, it ended up crashing into one of the power poles and people were in it for quite a while before they were rescued," Deanna Ward told state broadcaster ABC.
Heavy rain has lashed the region for the last 36 hours, with 16cm (6in) falling in just one hour. Most of the rainwater hit an already saturated catchment.
The enduring floods in Queensland have washed away roads and railways, destroyed crops and brought the coal industry to a near standstill.
The state premier has estimated that the price of rebuilding homes, businesses and infrastructure, coupled with economic losses, could exceed A$5bn (£3bn).
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