The Australian Prime Minister Julian Gilliard is touring the flood damaged areas in the Northeast of the country today, where more than four thousand people have been displaced. Two entire towns have been evacuated. Ms. Gilliard visited Bundaberg in Queensland which has seen the worst flood for four decades and has been split in two by the swollen Burnett River. Half of the state has been declared a disaster zone as a massive volume of water makes its way towards the coast. The city of Rockhampton with a population of 75,000 is next in the firing line with residents being forced to leave their homes. With major damage to prime farmlands, mines and more than twenty towns, the cost of the disaster is expected to run into billions of dollars.