Australia's flood death toll climbs to six

The death toll in Australia's Queensland flood has risen to six after another body was found in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, on Wednesday, local media reported.

Police found the body of a 34-year-old man in a car submerged in Sandy Creek at Glen Cairn, near Gatton, in the Lockyer Valley on Wednesday morning.

Several hours later the body of a 25-year-old man was found nearby by police divers, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, more than 200 soldiers are on their way to flood-hit Bundaberg in southeast Queensland to help with the clean-up as floodwaters are slowly dropping.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said on Wednesday that insurers had received 21,900 claims for the Queensland floods with an estimated damage bill of 187 million AU dollars (195.78 million U.S. dollars), and 2,000 claims from the New South Wales foods with estimated insured losses of 10 million AU dollars (10.47 million U.S. dollars).

"We expect these numbers will rise as more property owners lodge claims and assessors start to enter residential and commercial properties that have been inundated by flood waters," ICA Chief Executive Officer Rob Whelan said in a statement on Wednesday.