Residents of a previously drought-stricken area of southeastern Australian were being evacuated to safety yesterday as rising flood-waters threatened to swamp homes and farmland.
Scores of people have already been evacuated by army helicop-ters and police from homes in Gippsland in the east of Victoria state as officials warned that the deluge could worsen as rivers peak.
Jeff Amos, deputy mayor of the Wellington Shire Council, said it was ironic that residents who had recently battled savage bushfires and a long-standing drought had been confronted almost overnight with a flood emergency.
"It was a fair deluge during the past week which has put an end to the drought in one way," Amos said. "But unfortunately it's probably going to do more damage than good. We've gone from drought to being completely under water."
Many roads remain closed, scores of schools shut and hun-dreds of homes without power while the farming town of Newry has disappeared under water.
"Everything gets swept away and everything's chaotic," Prime Minister John Howard told commercial radio as he pledged extra cash relief for those affected.
Workers from the State Emergency Service said most swollen rivers had peaked and begun to recede but that waters draining into the Gippsland lakes region would be met by a king tide later yesterday.
"In effect, the high tide is going to hold these waters in. They will have no chance to be released into the ocean and this could seriously affect a number of properties over a substantial area," spokesman Allan Briggs said.
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said 700 volunteers were on alert.
"We do expect that it could get worse and there is a chance of it getting worse in the next 24 hours as that body of water comes forward," he said.
Bushfires raged through eastern Victoria for three months earlier this year, burning almost 1.2 million hectares of land, with Gippsland one of the areas worst-hit.
"While the rain is welcome following the devastating bushfires that ravaged many parts of Victoria last summer, I know that the floods have brought problems of their own," Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffery admitted.
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