After flooding in the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Hamilton, Nelson has become the latest region to be hit by the wild weekend weather.

The changing climate will increase security threats to Australia, including the possible collapse of fragile states in the region and resource wars, a new report has warned.

Swift-water rescue teams saved 16 children after their bus was trapped by flash flooding in southern Brisbane in a huge storm dumping heavy rain on southeast Queensland.

Two people have died, a newborn baby and other children helicoptered to safety and over 20 people have been rescued in severe weather and flooding across NSW. An evacuation order is now in place for residents of Kempsey on the NSW mid-north coast.

Australian residents are being urged to beware of crocodiles as the flooded Fitzroy River in Rockhampton recedes after peaking at a less than expected 8.6 metres.

A Kiwi is one of six people to die in the Queensland floods. He was being swept off his motorcycle at an intersection in the Brisbane suburb of Greenbank.

An 82-year-old former Masterton resident has been located by Interpol after his family feared he was lost in the Queensland floods.

With towns still isolated, thousands displaced and emergency supplies struggling to get through as stocks run short, Australia is again counting the cost of massive flooding.

A Northland man who had been repairing Queensland roads damaged in floods in 2010 and 2011 has been stranded in Bundaberg as a result of ex-cyclone Oswald.

A Kiwi family managed to escape just minutes before the boat they were in - their home - was swept down a raging river in Queensland.

Thousands of homes are underwater in Queensland and New South Wales as ex-tropical cyclone Oswald beats a devastating path down the coast, leaving authorities to prepare for another day of evacuations while floodwaters have already isolated hundreds of homes.

Queensland is gripped in another extraordinary flood crisis, as cities and towns across the state go under.

At least four people are feared dead in Queensland's unfolding flood crisis, which will leave the state with another massive damage bill.

While firefighters yesterday continued to battle huge blazes in Victoria, floods swept through Queensland, shutting down roads, railways and airports as former cyclone Oswald inundated coastal regions.

The eye of Hurricane Sandy has made landfall, causing flooding and high winds to hit the east coast states, including New York, Maine and New Jersey.