At least 7 dead as severe storm batters Australia's north-east
Huge downpours cause decades-high floods, inundating homes and sweeping away cars
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
SYDNEY • A severe storm system pummelled Australia's north-eastern city of Brisbane yesterday, causing evacuations, power disruptions and school closures as the death toll climbed to seven from accompanying flash floods.
Huge downpours unleashed decades-high floods and the rising waters inundated homes and roads, and swept away cars.
More than 1,400 homes in the capital of Queensland state were at risk of flooding while more than 28,000 homes were without power statewide, as pristine beaches on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, which are key tourist attractions, all closed.
"We never expected this rain," state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told a briefing.
"This rain bomb is just really, you know, it's unrelenting... It's just coming down in buckets."
More than 100 schools across the south-east of a state famed for abundant sunshine will be closed today. State rescue services said they received 100 requests an hour for help in recent days.
Ms Palaszczuk had earlier compared the weather to a cyclone event.
"Can I say to everyone from the outset today, if you don't have to be on the roads, please do not be on the roads," she said.
"We have a lot of water rising right across Brisbane and the south-east at the moment."
Six people have died in the Queensland flooding so far, including the late Saturday death of a 34-year-old man after his car became submerged in flood waters.
While the man was able to free himself from his vehicle and tried to swim to safety, he failed to surface and his body was found a short time later.
About 700 people were asked to evacuate from the city of Gympie on Saturday after the Mary River system surged beyond 22.06m.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the Mary River would rise above a historic high set in February 1999.
In northern New South Wales, a man died when his car was carried away by flood waters.
Meteorologists said the deluge and thunderstorms would continue to today, before starting to ease off in Queensland, but moving south to New South Wales, where some communities at risk in its north-east have been told to evacuate.
The risk of riverine and flash flooding was "very real over coming days", said New South Wales emergency services minister Steph Cooke.
The state's Bureau of Meteorology said on Twitter that significant thundery rainfall is expected over the north-east through yesterday and into today.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
