( CNN ) -- Heavy flooding in Australia caused by torrential rains has forced mass evacuations from towns along the country 's east coast , with critically-ill patients and newborns from one hospital being airlifted to safety . The floods , which came in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Oswald , have killed four people so far , including a three-year-old boy who died after being hit by a falling tree in Brisbane , Australia 's third largest city . Bundaberg , a coastal town about 360 kilometers ( 220 miles ) northwest of Brisbane , was particularly hard hit , with more than 2,000 homes inundated with water and a similar number of people evacuated , said mayor Mal Forman . `` We 're like a little island . We have water either side of us and the water is flowing rapidly , '' Forman told CNN by telephone from his office in Bundaberg 's town center . `` People are very bewildered . '' Some of the town 's roads were under six or seven meters of water and some one-storey houses were completely covered , Forman added . Bundaberg 's hospital was also evacuated as the flood waters continued to advance . A spokeswoman for Australia 's Department of Health said that about 130 patients were being airlifted to hospitals in Brisbane as a precaution . If the floodwaters reached 10.1 meters , it would affect the hospital sewage system , making the hospital clinically unsafe , the spokeswoman said . `` I think they are expected to rise to 9.8 meters and that 's a bit too close for comfort . We started transferring the most critical patients last night . The rest will be evacuated today . '' Around 10 newborn babies and at-risk patients were taken to Brisbane in the early hours of Tuesday , while two C-130 aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force arrived in Bundaberg later that morning to evacuate the remaining patients and some pregnant women nearing full term . Evacuations have also been ordered in the town of Grafton in New South Wales , about 600 kilometers ( 370 miles ) north of Sydney . In Brisbane , residents were being asked to limit water use after a water treatment plant was clogged up by silted water . But the city appeared to escape major flooding after waters peaked at a lower level than forecast . An aerial photo taken above Bundaberg posted by Queensland State Premier Campbell Newman on his Twitter account showed vast swathes of land under water . `` Extent of the flooding is staggering , '' he said in the post . Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that 100 Australian military personnel had been deployed to Bundaberg , where the Burnett River is expected to peak at around 9.6 meters on Tuesday , breaking a 1942 record . `` Currently it 's sitting at 9.525 meters , we believe it has just peaked half an hour ago . It 's a record for us , '' Forman said . A dozen helicopters , some equipped with night vision , were used to rescue 1,000 stranded residents , many plucked from their rooftops . `` There 's debris everywhere , the trampolines are everywhere , all the kids stuff is everywhere -- it 's just gone , '' Melissa Smith , who was among those winched to safety , told ABC News . Residents and officials are being particularly cautious , after flooding caused by heavy rains in late 2010 and 2011 left much of Queensland , known as the `` Sunshine State '' , under water . Those floods killed 35 people . More areas are expected to face flooding later in the week as swollen rivers and tributaries make their way toward the coast . Extra police have been deployed in flood-hit regions to prevent looting .
Four evacuated as flood waters continue to rise in Bundaberg . Thousands people have died including today boy hit by tree . Hospital being evacuated in hard-hit town of Australia . Helicopters pluck stranded from their rooftops .