In a post on Twitter today, he said 75 of them, who were students under various agencies, were stationed at the University of Queensland relief centre, while another 35 were being relocated.

Saifuddin said there were a total of 348 Malaysians registered in Queensland, including about 200 students.

He said the Malaysian high commission in Canberra, in collaboration with Chan Wai Kiong, the representative for the Malaysian community in Brisbane, and president of the Malaysian Students’ Council of Australia (Masca) Razin Hadi, were monitoring and coordinating the relocation of affected Malaysians to relief centres.

“The Queensland government, through a televised broadcast, has informed that the flood situation is expected to continue for the next three to five days.

“According to the weather forecast agency, the southbound rain situation is expected to affect some areas around northeast New South Wales and Sydney,” he said.

In this regard, he said,  the high commission in Canberra, in collaboration with the Malaysian consulate in Sydney, was always on alert and monitoring and reporting on the development of the floods from time to time.

He advised Malaysians in the affected areas to contact the high commission directly at +61261 200 300/310 or +61416 334 901 or email to [email protected].

According to media reports, thousands of residents on Australia’s east coast had been ordered to leave their homes following heavy rain that submerged several towns.

The death toll has risen to eight so far.

A total of 1,544 people were evacuated to relief centres, while more than 1,000 schools on the country’s east coast were closed.