AUSTRALIA’S coal industry may be disrupted for months after key rail and road links were washed away in the floods, while some infrastructure could take years to repair, authorities said yesterday.

AUSTRALIA put an army general in charge of flood recovery yesterday after weeks of heavy rains deluged the country’s coal-producing north-east, crippling the area’s economy and sending out reverberations felt in energy markets around the world.

Scores more foreign soldiers today landed in East Timor to bolster a force struggling to stop mob violence in the capital.