(BBC) Brisbane residents urged to evacuate

The authorities are urging people to leave parts of Australia’s third largest city, Brisbane, which is facing its worst flooding in decades.

The city’s mayor has warned that 6,500 homes and businesses are set to flood.

Flash floods have left nine dead and at least 70 missing nearby.

The waters are rising fast; one local official said he saw the river level go up by 1.5m (4ft 10in) in just an hour. Some 200,000 people have been affected across the state by the floods.

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