SE Queensland Gets 1/3 Of Annual Rainfall In 24 Hours - Authorities Describe "Inland Sea" - AFP

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Thousands of homeowners remained isolated in Australia's flood-hit northeast Sunday, where authorities said days of torrential rain had created a vast "inland sea". Swollen rivers peaked overnight, allowing clean-up operations to begin and evacuated residents to return to the northern New South Wales towns of Grafton and Kempsey, the State Emergency Service (SES) said.

But SES spokesman Greg Slater said up to 20,000 people in small communities remained cut off by the floodwaters, which have led to disaster declarations in NSW and neighbouring Queensland. "We're concentrating our efforts on those communities in terms of resupply and provision of immediate medical assistance and medical supplies, also just the basic necessities, foodstuff and the like," he told Sky News.

Two people have died in the floods, which dumped one-third of southeast Queensland's average annual rainfall in just 24 hours.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees flew over the affected area Sunday and said it was difficult to grasp the extent of the floods, even from the air. "It's an inland sea, and you see the (animal) stocks that are isolated and the towns that are isolated and you wonder where it's all going to go," he told reporters.

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