Flash Floods hit Australia's third biggest city Brisbane, kills 2 people

As the Northern hemisphere region battles for the worst winter snow storms, down south seen Australia has been battling the worst flood that hit the country in 50 years.

In Brisbane, a city of 2 million, people in low-lying areas were given sandbags and warned the worst of the flooding might not occur until Tuesday or Wednesday, Reuters reports.

Toowoomba, a major rural city west of Brisbane, was hit by a two-meter-deep wall of mud-filled floodwater which swept two people to their deaths and left others clinging to the tops of vehicles carried along streets by the torrent, police said.

In Queensland's north, floodwaters containing toxic farm pesticides were flowing into the Pacific Ocean, threatening Australia's Great Barrier Reef, marine park officials and wildlife experts said.

Queensland Tourism, home to the Sunshine and Gold Coast tourist strips said rains and flooding would hurt the industry, but it was too early to quantify the impact.

Floods have also paralyzed operations that produce 35 percent of Australia's estimated 259 million tons of exportable coal. Australia contributes two-thirds of global coking-coal exports, needed to make steel.

Ten people have been killed so far since the flood threatened Queensland as early as December and has caused an estimated A$6 billion in damages. Economist said that they will inflation this year and would trigger the rise of food prices as reconstruction is about to begin.