Officials say the massive flooding that devastated parts of Australia may be the worst natural disaster in the nation's history.
    
Floodwaters have claimed at least 30 lives and caused more than $5 billion in property damage.

As waves of water roared through northeast Australia, one group of Christian intercessors gathered on the steps of the Victorian Parliament building in Melbourne.

They asked God to protect their nation from further flood devastation. Pastor Danny Nalliah led the effort.

"We fell on our knees and we cried out to the Lord and we said 'Lord, please forgive us and heal the land,'" Nalliah told CBN News in a phone interview.

Nalliah estimated more than 1,000 Christians gathered in corporate prayer throughout Australia last week. The result? Floodwaters in parts of Australia began to recede.

"In Queensland, instead of it increasing, the water started receding," the pastor told CBN News. "The results of that, according to the news reports, was that thousands of lives and thousands of homes were saved."

"It was the collective prayers of the body of Christ that brought the results to the nation," Nalliah concluded.

The worst may not be over yet. The flood emergency now in the southeast of the country is expected to last about another week.

*Originally aired on Jan. 21, 2011.