WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Monsoon rains unleashed flooding in Australia’s Queensland that have claimed the lives of two people as the week-long deluge dropped months of rainfall in a few days, devastating small rural towns on the state’s north coast.

Flood waters are rising in the Australian state of Queensland after heavy rainfall. The area between Townsville and Cairns in the north-east is particularly badly affected - a region that is also very popular with tourists.

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