Deadly floods swept Australia's east coast Tuesday, stranding residents on bridges and rooftops and forcing many to flee their homes.
Flood warnings were in effect for dozens of areas across the states of Queensland and New South Wales, where a week-long "rain bomb" has dumped a meter of water on some areas in a week.
Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes by Tuesday and hundreds of thousands more were told to prepare to flee as parts of Australia's southeast coast were inundated by the worst flooding in more than a decade.
Nine people have died and more than a thousand people have been rescued. Authorities have warned that more fatalities are likely.
The latest victim was a woman in her 80s, whose body was found by police inside a home in the country town of Lismore.
There were concerns that householders who climbed into their roof spaces through ceiling manholes could become trapped by rising waters. Scores of residents, some with pets, spent hours trapped on their roofs in recent days by a fast-rising river in the town of Lismore in northern New South Wales state.
Emergency services were overwhelmed by calls for help and flotillas of makeshift rescue boats fanned out across the town as people tried to ferry their neighbors to safety.
Australia has been on the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, and floods becoming more common and more intense as global climate patterns change.
Government meteorologist Jonathan Howe described the amount of recent rainfall in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland as “astronomical.”
Flood warnings were in effect for dozens of areas across the states of Queensland and New South Wales, where a week-long "rain bomb" has dumped a meter of water on some areas in a week.
Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes by Tuesday and hundreds of thousands more were told to prepare to flee as parts of Australia's southeast coast were inundated by the worst flooding in more than a decade.
Nine people have died and more than a thousand people have been rescued. Authorities have warned that more fatalities are likely.
The latest victim was a woman in her 80s, whose body was found by police inside a home in the country town of Lismore.
There were concerns that householders who climbed into their roof spaces through ceiling manholes could become trapped by rising waters. Scores of residents, some with pets, spent hours trapped on their roofs in recent days by a fast-rising river in the town of Lismore in northern New South Wales state.
Emergency services were overwhelmed by calls for help and flotillas of makeshift rescue boats fanned out across the town as people tried to ferry their neighbors to safety.
Australia has been on the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, and floods becoming more common and more intense as global climate patterns change.
Government meteorologist Jonathan Howe described the amount of recent rainfall in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland as “astronomical.”
