Death toll in Australia floods rises to four; tens of thousands stranded

SYDNEY – The body of a man was found in a car trapped in flood waters in Australia’s south-east on May 23, raising the death toll to four, after three days of incessant rain cut off entire towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes.

The police said the man was found near Coffs Harbour, around 550km north of Sydney.

The search continued for a person missing since the deluge began early this week.

Around 50,000 people are still isolated, emergency services personnel said, while residents returning to their flooded homes were warned to watch out for dangers.

“If your home or premise has been inundated, flood waters have contaminants. There can be vermin, snakes... So you need to assess those risks. Electricity can also pose a danger as well,” state Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Damien Johnston told reporters.

Television videos showed submerged intersections and street signs, cars up to their windscreens in water, after fast-rising waters burst river banks and flooded several rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state.

Debris from the floods, and dead and lost livestock, have washed up on the coast.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had to cancel his planned visit to Taree, one of the worst-hit towns, due to flood waters.

“We did try... but that was not possible due to the circumstance, which I’m sure people understand,” he told reporters from the town of Maitland in the Hunter region.

“But our thoughts are with communities that are cut off at this point in time. And we’re here to basically say, very clearly and explicitly, you’re not alone.”

Australia has been enduring more extreme weather events that some experts say are happening due to climate change.

After droughts and devastating bush fires at the end of the last decade, frequent floods have been wreaking havoc since early 2021.

“What once were rare downpours are now becoming the new normal – climate change is rewriting Australia’s weather patterns, one flood at a time,” Mr Davide Faranda, a weather researcher at ClimaMeter, said in a statement.

Disruptions in Sydney

A wild weather system that dumped around four months of rain over three days shifted south towards Sydney on May 22 bringing heavy rain overnight, though it is expected to ease by the evening of May 23, the weather bureau said in the latest update.

Water on rail tracks impacted some suburban train lines in Sydney, including its airport line services, while Sydney Airport was forced to shut down two of its three runways for an hour on the morning of May 23 due to strong winds, delaying flights.

Warragamba Dam, which supplies 80 per cent of Sydney’s water supply and is currently at around 96 per cent of capacity, could spill over soon after heavy rain overnight, officials said. REUTERS