10 dead, 78 missing as 'instant tsunami' hits Brisbane

Resident Anne Smart sits on the step of her flooded house after rainwaters the day before inundated the city of Ipswich, some 40 kms southwest of the Queensland city of Brisbane on Tuesday.

BRISBANE, Australia — Deadly floodwaters that have cut a swath across northeastern Australia flowed onto the streets of the nation's third-largest city Wednesday, forcing people to flee suburbs and skyscrapers as rescuers elsewhere searched for 67 people still missing.

Almost 20,000 homes in Brisbane were expected to be swamped in the city of about 2 million by the time the Brisbane River reaches its expected peak Thursday, Mayor Campbell Newman said. The figures were constantly being revised as the threat became clearer — and it was getting consistently worse.

At least 22 people have died in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland since drenching rains that began in November sent swollen rivers spilling over their banks, inundating an area larger than France and Germany combined.

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