Prince Charles sends message to Australia

The Prince of Wales has sent a message of "solidarity" to victims of the deadly floods in Australia.

Charles said: "For so many people in the United Kingdom, we do feel really deeply on behalf of the Australians, particularly in the state of Queensland, which has had such a terrible battering over the last several weeks.

"What I can never get over is how wonderfully resilient the Australian people are when this sort of disaster occurs. So many of us here in this country wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in this appalling tragedy.

"All of us here in the United Kingdom feel deeply and just wanted to express our solidarity and send our hopes and our prayers and our good wishes."

The Prince added that he had "contributed something" to a charity fund that aims to help with reconstruction efforts.

Brisbane has begun cleaning up mud and debris after some of the country's worst floods on record, but it could take six months just to pump flood water out of Queensland's coal mines.

Many suburbs remain submerged after water inundated the riverside city on Thursday.

The floods have killed 20 people, left 53 missing and affected an area the size of France and Germany put together. A total of 86 towns have been impacted.