• Reuters

    Save the TV! Aussie floats his big screen to safety from floodwaters

    A man uses the cover of a hot tub to move a TV set through floodwaters at Cornubia, Queensland. Massive summer floods have killed four people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes across the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales, according to local authorities. -- Reuters

    Editor's note: Photo taken on Jan. 29, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

    Related:

    Wild weather has broken a lot of hearts: Australia PM

    Video: Frothy sea foam spills into Australian town

    PhotoBlog: Three killed, dozens rescued in Australia floods


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  • Wild weather has broken a lot of hearts: Australia PM

    Chris Hyde / Getty Images

    A man comforts his daughter on their roof as they inspect damage to their neighborhood in Bundaberg, Queensland on Jan. 29, 2013. Rescue and evacuation missions continued as emergency services prepared to move patients from Bundaberg Hospital to Brisbane amid fears the hospital could lose power.

    EPA

    Homes are inundated with floodwater in North Bundaberg on Jan. 29, 2013. The Premier of Queensland Campbell Newman said the situation in Bundaberg remained serious, and the government was working with local authorities to ensure thousands of evacuees had access to food, water and bedding.

    Reuters reports — A deluge fed by the ex-tropical cyclone Oswald has dumped more than 8 inches of rain in parts of Queensland and New South Wales over the past three days, swelling rivers and swamping towns

    A fleet of 14 helicopters rescued more than 1,000 people across Queensland overnight and rescue efforts continued on Tuesday.

    "Across Queensland the wild weather has broken a lot of hearts," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.

    Among the four people killed was a three-year old boy, who died in hospital after being hit by a falling tree as he and his mother watched floodwaters in parts of Brisbane, Australia's third largest city. Read the full story.

    Related:

    Video: Frothy sea foam spills into Australian town

    PhotoBlog: Three killed, dozens rescued in Australia floods

    Dave Hunt / EPA

    Sea foam is seen as walkers take to Burleigh Heads beach on Queensland's Gold Coast on Jan. 29, 2013, following wild weather caused by ex-cyclone Oswald.

    Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

    A man hangs onto the railing of North Curl Curl ocean pool in Sydney after winds and rain battered the city, producing large swells, on Jan. 29, 2013. Parts of Sydney experienced record rainfall after ex-cyclone Oswald swept through the city on Monday night.

    Rains lashed towns across eastern Australia, all the way down to Sydney, creating massive flooding, churning up foam from the ocean that bewildered drivers, and stranding civilians who had to be rescued by helicopter. NBC's Sara James reports.

     

  • Three killed, dozens rescued in Australia floods

    Brett Faulkner / AFP - Getty Images

    Floodwaters race across the Oxenford - Tamborine road on Australia's Gold Coast on Jan. 28, 2013 as severe floods swept through two states.

    Dan Peled / EPA

    Residents inspect their flooded home in Bundaberg, Queensland, on Jan. 28, 2013. At least 1,200 Bundaberg properties are already flooded, and there are fears the number could reach 2,000.

    Dramatic video from a helmet camera shows a baby and two women being airlifted out of a truck in Eastern Australia after flood waters washed the vehicle off the road. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    Three people were reported to have been killed and dozens more were plucked from roofs and marooned cars in dramatic air rescues in northeastern Australia on Monday as severe floods swept through two states, inundating thousands of homes.  

    The heavy rain was caused by the remnants of a tropical cyclone that hit the country last week and also brought severe weather including tornadoes.

    -- Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press

     

    Emergency Management Queensland / Network Ten via AFP - Getty Images

    A man being winched to safety by helicopter in Biloela, Queenland, on Jan. 27, 2013.

    Paul Beutel / EPA

    Evan Roberts surveys the remains of a neighbour's gazebo blown onto his damaged home in Bargara, Queensland on Jan. 27, 2013. A large weather system courtesy of ex tropical cyclone Oswald is causing flooding down Queensland's coast and into northern New South Wales.

    Nicole Armitstead via EPA

    Children playing in sea foam at Burleigh Heads in Queensland on Jan. 28, 2013.

     

  • Jonathan Wood / Getty Images

    Local residents relax as their home is surrounded by flood waters on Jan. 5, in Rockhampton, Australia. All eyes are on the central Queensland city of Rockhampton, currently in floodwatch lock down as the community braces for the swollen Fitzroy River to reach a predicted peak of 9.4 metres. The Queensland flood crisis has resulted in ten deaths and affected more than 200,000 people across an area as large as France and Germany combined. The flood bill is predicted to be upwards of AUD 5 billion.

    As Australian flooding continues, some residents take the water in stride

    By Carissa Ray

    Not to belittle the devastation that the current flooding has wrought Australia, with hundreds of thousands affected, thousands of homes devastated or destroyed and whole towns cut off from access - but the silver lining to the flooding here as compared to the flooding that devastated Pakistan last year, is that in a first world country, some residents are able to take the floodwaters in stride, as this Australian household seems to be doing. Read more about the flooding HERE.

  • Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

    Denise and Mark Duffield-Thomas go snorkeling after renewing their wedding vows for the 80th time at Knuckle Reef on Nov. 7, on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. As the winners of 'The Ultimate Job - Honeymoon Testers' competition for Ireland's Runaway Bride and Groom, they are visiting Queensland on the last leg of the 12-month honeymoon promotion testing wedding venues across the world. As part of the promotion, the couple will attempt to break the World Guinness Record for the most 'wedding vows' renewed by a couple. The record currently stands at 83.

    The honeymooners

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    While this sounds like a ton of fun to me, one person here in the newsroom remarked that he would get tired of renewing his vows every few days, and that any couple who would attempt such a feat would probably end up divorced at the end of the year. (He will remain nameless in the event that his significant other is reading.) How about you? Would you want to give this a try?