Parts of Australia’s Queensland state has been battered by monsoon rains with more predicted in the coming days.
Dramatic images from Townsville in northeastern Queensland show people wading through flood water.
While other images show people canoeing through the streets.
Townsville Police District Chief Superintendent Steve Munro has warned that if the rain continues, up to 20,000 homes could go under water.
He warned people in vulnerable areas to consider moving to higher ground.
So far 300 homes have been impacted however Mr Munro said: “If it continues tomorrow, and the next, we could be talking upwards towards the 10,000 towards the 20,000 so people need to start thinking.”
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that the rainfall could go on for some time.
State Manager Bruce Gunn told the Townsville Bulletin: "We expect the peak of the rainfall to recur again tonight and continuing into next week.
"There's a good chance, because this event is going to continue for several days, that we'll beat the ten day record for Townsville which is a total of 925mm which was observed in 1953."
On Friday, local authorities took the decision to open the floodgates at Ross River Dam after it reached 200 percent capacity.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “We have not been in this situation before. There has been a lot of rain falling over the Townsville catchment and some of these levels are unprecedented.”
The army has been called in to help protect properties with sandbags.
Townsville Mayor told the Townsville Bulletin: “We’ve never seen a monsoonal system like this. At the moment we are working as hard as we can to make sure we minimise the impact on our local community.
“What we are trying to do is minimise the risk to life.”
As Queensland faces heavy rainfall, southern Australia is experiencing an extreme heatwave.
Last week, Adelaide recorded its hottest ever day on record when the mercury in the city centre reached 46.2C.
