BRISBANE, Australia, Jan 11 (
Reuters)- Authorities urged thousands of residents to leave the outskirts of Australia's third-largest city on Tuesday as others sandbagged homes and stockpiled food in anticipation of rising floodwaters and more heavy rain.
Ten people died overnight, with cars and pedestrians swept away in a "super storm" that sent water raging through the streets of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. More than 40 people were pulled from rooftops by helicopters but 78 were missing.
The worst flooding in Queensland state in 50 years has killed 14 people in the past two weeks, but police warn the death toll could rise significantly, fearing many people may have drowned trapped in submerged cars and homes.
A flight in a small plane over the area around Brisbane revealed a waterlogged landscape with houses marooned in vast muddy lakes, mine sites and factories engulfed, as well as roads severed by streaming torrents. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL3E7CB1W220110111 
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