Tens of thousands told to evacuate as Australia floods reach record levels

BRISBANE • Tens of thousands of Australians were ordered to flee their homes yesterday, as torrential rain sent flood waters to record levels, leaving residents stranded on the rooftops of their homes.

Seven people have died in Australia, and the country's weather bureau has warned further severe thunderstorms and intense rainfall will cause "life-threatening flash flooding" for a swathe of the central Pacific coastal region.

In the country town of Lismore, resident Danika Hardiman woke yesterday morning to find mud-brown flood waters had reached the balcony of her second-floor apartment. She and her partner managed to climb up to the roof, where they were spotted by passing kayakers, who flagged down a makeshift rescue boat.

"We were rescued by two guys in a boat, two locals," she told Agence France-Presse, describing the scenes in Lismore as "horrific".

"Imagine you're in a boat sailing past people's roofs," she said. "The scary thing is this is just the beginning, there's lots of rain to come."

With the town's levees already breached, 43,000 residents have been ordered to leave immediately.

Emergency services were overwhelmed by calls for aid, leaving some locals - including Lismore's Mayor Steve Krieg - to turn to social media for help.

"If anyone has a boat and can get to Engine Street, there's a pregnant lady sitting on her roof. HELP Please," he posted on Facebook yesterday.

Emergency rescue services said they had also deployed a helicopter to pluck other stranded residents from rooftops.

Photographs from the city of Brisbane on Sunday night showed the Brisbane River extremely swollen and many streets already severely flooded, with extensive damage to roads, buildings and vehicles caught in the downpour.

Hundreds of schools were closed yesterday, and officials have asked residents to work from home.

According to experts, Australia has suffered weather extremes for millennia, including harsh droughts ending with major floods. But though some of the factors driving those swings are ageless, climate change is increasing the likelihood of severe downpours.

Water levels in the town of Lismore have not yet reached their expected peak of 14m - but they are already the worst floods the town has experienced.

Across eastern Australia, flooding has now killed seven people, after a 59-year-old man was swept away by strong currents just outside Brisbane.

Millions of people have been told to stay home and nearly 1,000 schools in Queensland state remain closed because of the floods.

A 70-year-old man miraculously survived after his houseboat, swept along by the raging Brisbane River, collided with a ferry terminal and quickly sank.

Members of the public were able to rescue the man, with one telling public broadcaster ABC they had linked arms to create a human chain and fished the man from the river unharmed.

"I don't know how he survived it, to be honest," onlooker Matthew Toomey said. Rain began to ease in Brisbane yesterday but the authorities expect the severe weather to continue this week as the "rain bomb" continues to travel south along the Australian coast.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES