Australia: Queensland and NSW hit with flash floods and heavy rain

Parts of Australia have been hit by heavy rain and flash flooding.

Queensland and New South Wales on the east coast of Australia were hit the hardest.

According to weather experts, three times the normal monthly rainfall fell on the Gold Coast in the last 12 hours.

Although this rain has been helpful to stop the spread of some wildfires, it is also causing new problems for the people who live there.

Emergency services have been busy helping those stranded by the floods, and roads and theme parks have had to close.

Park rangers at the Australia Reptile Park had to evacuate animals as their enclosures became flooded.

Tim Faulkner, who is the director at the park, told local media that: "Just last week we were having daily meetings to discuss the imminent threat of bushfires,".

"Today, we've had the whole team out there, drenched, acting fast to secure the safety of our animals and defend the park from the onslaught of water… We haven't seen flooding like this at the park for over 15 years."

Scientists are also worried that the rain might cause problems for fish living in rivers.

This is because the rain could wash muddy ash from the wildfires in the lakes and streams, which is poisonous to them.

As well as this some experts are worried that having lots of rain in a short amount of time could mean a higher risk of landslides in some areas.