Video: Storm dumps 2.5 feet of rain on eastern Australia

>>> first to that deadly flooding in australia. sarah james is in brisbane for us this morning. s sarah, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, savannah. the floodwaters here in brisbane -- and i'm on the banks of the river, have peaked and are starting to recede, but the crisis here in queensland, australia, is far from over. the juggernaut of the storm, which dumped 2 1/2 feet of water on the region, lashed towns across eastern australia all the way down to sydney. a storm so terrifying and bizarre. churning up monster foam from the ocean that entertained children, but bewildered drivers, and taxed resources to the breaking point. even thunderburg's hospital had to be evacuated. rescue workers pushed patients on carts to waiting helicopters. others plucked from rooftops from a team of civilians, remnants of cyclone oswald. tiny evac eevacuee. hundreds of men and women and children rushed to safety. this fashionable neighborhood two miles outside the center of brisbane flooded in 2011 , a once in a century flood, but two years later, it happened again. andrew brady just moved here.

>> also it can't happen again.

>> reporter: last flood he volunteered to dig out others. now they're calling to return the favor.

>> you add in the desert, this is our flood phone, samsung flood phone.

>> reporter: those friends, those volunteers worked so hard and got so dirty in the cleanup that they got nicknamed the mud army. you can bet the platoons of them will be back in action this year, those volunteers. and they'll be needed. it's going to be a massive cleanup, savannah.

>> that, it is, sara james

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50624843/

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