Record flooding continues to threaten homes and farmland across large parts of Australia. Earlier this month, floods of biblical proportions moved to Victoria from the state of Queensland, where they killed about 30 people, destroyed or damaged about 30,000 homes and devastated the coal mining industry.

Lachlan Quick, spokesman for the State Emergency Service, said hundreds of homes in Victoria faced threats over the weekend as four rivers northwest of the state capital Melbourne were expected to reach their highest peaks in a century.

Emergency services have been concentrating their efforts northwest of Melbourne at Swann Hill, a town where two swollen rivers meet.

The government says the floods could be the nation's most expensive natural disaster ever.Victoria's Agriculture Minister, Peter Walsh, says the floods could cost the sector in the state up to $2 billion. The floods have hit Australia in the middle of its harvest season and some crops have not yet been harvested.

Queensland Treasurer Wayne Swan said Australia faces an enormous economic impact from the flooding, and coal exports will be one of the biggest casualties.

The Queensland floods will reduce coal exports by 15 million metric tons by March, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences reported Friday.

According to officials, the flood threat in Victoria, which was devastated by wildfires only two years ago, is likely to continue for some time.