Australian towns submerged under FOUR FEET of sea foam

Entire Australian towns submerged under FOUR FEET of sea foam as floods force thousands to flee homes along the east coast

• Waves of suds surged onto beaches, blanketing roads and parks and bringing towns to a standstill
• The bubbles are formed during storms when powerful waves force air into water to make foam
• The Sunshine and Gold coasts has been pummelled by tropical cyclone Oswald in recent days
• Four dead, including three-year old struck by a falling tree in gale force winds in Brisbane next to pregnant mother
• Army helicopters drafted in to lift stricken homeowners trapped on their rooftops to safety
• Queensland premier warns of homes being swept away in torrents as thousands told to flee homes

The extreme weather that has blighted Australia in recent weeks took a bizarre twist today as dozens of beachfront towns became submerged in up to four feet of sea foam.

Wave after wave of frothy suds, whipped up in storms as powerful waves force air into the water, surged onshore blanketing roads and parks and bringing entire towns to a standstill.

But while the rare lather brought hundreds of children out of their homes to play in its bubbles, the bad weather that spawned it also bore tragedy to the region as floodwaters continued to rise, forcing thousands of homeowners to flee for their lives.

Four people have died so far, including a three-year-old boy who was struck by a falling tree in gale force winds in Brisbane yesterday as he sheltered with his 34-year-old pregnant mother. She is understood to be in a critical condition with broken bones and head injuries.

At least three other people remain unaccounted for today.

Patients have been evacuated from the ground floor of a hospital in the badly-hit town of Bundaberg, north of Brisbane, where Queensland premier Campbell Newman said today that there was ‘a very real prospect’ of houses being swept away.

As the level of the Burnett River in Bundaberg rose to 9m – and was still rising - Mr Newman said a ‘significant number’ of people in 2000 homes were about to be trapped and warned: ‘If you can get out safely now – do it!’

Last night the town, located 240 miles north of Brisbane, had become an island, with floodwaters cutting off every road leading into the city, leaving no way in or out except by boat or helicopter.

Doing what they can: Throughout most of the southern part of Queensland families were placed on alert, either fleeing the rising floodwaters or doing what they could to protect their properties by piling up sandbanks around them as the waters approached

The animals were so distressed that National parks and Wildlife officials had no choice but to euthanaise them

In the Lismore and Tweed region of northern New South Wales rescues were under way to save people trapped in cars that were stranded on flooded roads.

As hundreds of distress calls came in for people wanting to be rescued, emergency services in Queensland and New South Wales were stretched to the limit. Army helicopters have been brought in to help lift people trapped on their rooftops.

Winds of 70mph brought down trees, one falling on a pregnant 30-year-old woman who was standing with a child near a creek in the north of Brisbane. Although the child escaped serious injury, the woman is believed to sustained a broken leg and head injuries.

On the Queensland Gold Coast the beach-side Miami Hotel was evacuated after the roof was torn off by the wind – and part of the roof of the Tweed Heads Hospital, a few miles to the south, was also ripped away.

The problems in Queensland and New South Wales have been caused by the weakening Cyclone Oswald, which is not expected to move back out to sea until the middle of this week.