Thousands flee homes as Australian floodwaters rise

Thousands of Brisbane residents were stockpiling food and stacking sandbags or fleeing their homes yesterday as the worst floodwaters to hit Queensland for 50 years surged towards Australia's third-largest city.

Many people in the state capital, fearful of the damage already done, appeared to have heeded the authorities' evacuation warnings. By last night, Brisbane's city centre was a ghost town populated only by a few shop owners hoping to save their businesses with last-minute barricades of sandbags and plastic sheeting.