Scores flee Australian floods: Officials

SYDNEY: Surging floodwaters forced scores of people to evacuate their homes in northeastern Australia on Monday, officials said, as farmers described heavy rains as a mixed blessing after years of drought.

Worst-hit by the rising waters was the central Queensland town of Emerald, where people left their homes for higher ground as the swollen Nogoa River threatened to inundate parts of the town.

"There's been about 120 people who have voluntarily relocated at the moment -- that happened last night and this morning," a State Emergency Services spokeswoman told.

Emergency workers also carried out helicopter evacuations near Emerald after workers at the Ensham coalmine, about 40 kilometres east of the town, were cut off by the rising waters.

Elsewhere in the state, floodwaters were threatening the southwestern town of Charleville, but officials were confident they would be contained.

"The levee bank was erected late on Friday night and will protect the town if floodwaters rise above the six-metre level," Queensland Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said.

Large parts of Australia have been hit by heavy rains in recent weeks -- including the largely drought-declared eastern states of Queensland in the north and Victoria in the south -- raising hopes that an end to the worst dry spell in living memory could be in sight.

But Queensland farmers said the latest deluge was a mixed blessing because it came at the cost of millions of dollars in lost crops and stock.

Brett De Hayr, head of the agricultural group AgForce, said the losses from the flooding could top a billion dollars (876 million US).