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 further 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 still 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. Traffic jams clogged central Brisbane as people headed out by car amid heavy rains and initial flooding. Eighty suburbs were expecting flooding ahead of the crest of the swollen Brisbane River, expected on Thursday. Families poured into evacuation centres in Brisbane as well as neighbouring Ipswich, where a third of the town was expected to be submerged as water levels reach a peak overnight. Some 1,500 people were sheltering in centres as floodwaters spilled from 16 Queensland dams. A further four dams, including Brisbane's massive Wivenhoe Dam, released vast qualities of water, adding to the surge. Police said 9,000 homes in Brisbane would be flooded by Thursday and 30,000 properties would suffer some inundation.
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