Brisbane, Australia (CNN) -- Recovering from flooding in northeastern Australia will be a "reconstruction task of post-war proportions," a top official in Queensland state said Sunday.
"We have massive infrastructure damage that will take months and in some cases years to fully repair," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters. "We have homes and lives torn apart, in some cases ... by an event of the most traumatic proportions. So we cannot underestimate what is happening".
Police in the flood-ravaged state said Sunday that the death toll from flooding had climbed to 18, and they urged residents to knock on their neighbors' doors as waters recede.
"Many people don't have friends and family to check on them, so it's up to the whole community to do their part and look out for their neighbors," Acting Inspector Gareth Bosley said, according to a statement on the Queensland Police website.
Meanwhile, flood warnings were in place Sunday in Victoria state in southeastern Australia as authorities said heavy rains threatened homes there.
Police said 14 people are missing in Queensland, many of them in the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley areas. CNN
