A major tourist center under water, an airport, a little girl struck by lightning on Saturday in southern Queensland… The elements have been unleashed on Australia in recent days. Near-record rains also caused potentially deadly floods in the Australian state of Queensland (northwest), authorities announced this Sunday.
These floods particularly hit the city of Cairns where rivers in the region were already saturated after the passage of a tropical cyclone this week, which flooded highways and caused tree falls. Some areas of the state have recorded more than 600 millimeters of precipitation in the past 24 hours, and another 500 millimeters could fall in the next 24 hours, meteorologist Laura Boekel said Sunday. “These flash floods can be dangerous and deadly precisely because of their sudden nature,” she said at a news conference.
A “very serious situation”
The situation “is very serious, and could get worse,” said Queensland Premier Steven Miles. “I’ve spoken with people who have lived on the ground in the far north of the state their entire lives and say they’ve never seen anything like this,” he added. The latter also indicated that the rapid rise in water had led to the closure of Cairns airport, where there are fears of floods higher than the record floods caused by a cyclone in 1977. Some 10,500 people find themselves deprived of electricity in the state, he added. Emergency services also carried out multiple evacuations and rescues, and five emergency centers were opened. However, no deaths or disappearances have been reported at this stage.
A senior fire and security official, Stephen Smith, called on residents to stay at home. “These events can be life-threatening, there is no point in people going out to go here or there,” he said.