Death as flash floods hit swamped Australia

Australia's flood crisis shifted to the country's far south on Sunday, with 13,000 homes swamped by a record deluge as the toll mounted in the reeling northeast amid scenes of devastation.Dozens of towns braced for unprecedented river levels in Victoria state, where 13,000 homes were under water and 3,000 people had fled the rising waters, days after the flooding emergency peaked in northeastern Queensland.Homes were swamped to waist height as waters swept through the southeast, levelling fences and trees and tearing up roads.

Money Morning submits: By David Zeiler The unusual ferocity of winter storms this year, as well as where and how often they have struck, has put as much strain on some corporate and municipal budgets as heavy snow on a roof.Whether it's climate change, a freak weather pattern or mere coincidence, no one denies the impact that severe weather has had on the United States in recent years - or the past several months, for that matter.

Australia's flood crisis shifted to the country's far south on Sunday, with 14,000 homes swamped by a record deluge as the toll mounted in the reeling northeast amid scenes of devastation.Dozens of towns braced for unprecedented river levels in Victoria state, where 14,000 homes were waterlogged and 3,500 people had fled, days after the flooding emergency peaked in northeastern Queensland.Homes were swamped to waist height as waters swept through the southeast, levelling fences and trees and tearing up roads.

The death toll from flash floods in India's remote Himalayan region of Ladakh reached 165 on Monday, with officials warning that hundreds of people were still missing.Sudden rains before dawn on Friday caused floods that swept away roads, homes, bridges and power cables. Rescuers fear many more victims died after being buried in a tide of rock and mud.Thousands of Indian soldiers, police and paramilitary troops have led the relief operation, trying to reach buried homes and treating the injured.

Eight people died and 72 were missing on Tuesday after giant flash floods smashed through an Australian town like an "inland tsunami", suddenly escalating a widespread flood crisis.Queensland premier Anna Bligh said the death toll would rise "potentially quite dramatically" after fast-running torrents devastated Toowoomba and other mountainside towns, sweeping away cars and leaving survivors clinging to trees.

Australian medical officials braced Thursday for rampant disease in the country's swamped northeast, with filthy floodwaters harbouring sewage, dead animals and dangerous debris.Dozens of towns have been inundated including large areas of Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, in flooding across an area twice the size of Texas, or France and Germany combined.More than 100,000 Brisbane homes were without power and fresh water supplies had been cut or compromised in some areas, while raw sewage spilled into waterways from submerged homes across the state of Queensland.

Australia braced for a rapidly rising death toll Tuesday after flash floods killed eight and left 72 missing, as a quickly spreading flood disaster forced evacuations in central Brisbane.A sombre Prime Minister Julia Gillard, dressed in black, warned the country to prepare for the worst after flash floods described as an "inland tsunami" smashed mountainside Toowoomba, sweeping away entire houses.