storm
Severe flooding in Australia
Rainfall that has lasted for days has pushed water levels higher in many places in north-eastern Australia. Photo: Jason O’brien/AAP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The rains in northeastern Australia are heavier than they have been for a long time. Thousands of people have had to leave their homes and there is no sign of the all-clear.
Heavy rains that have lasted for days have pushed water levels up in many places in north-eastern Australia, including in the metropolis of Brisbane.
At least seven people have died in several incidents in the past few days, the AAP news agency reported on Sunday, citing authorities. Six of them died in the particularly hard-hit southeast of the state of Queensland, another person in neighboring New South Wales.
Residents in parts of Brisbane struggled with the floodwaters on Sunday. Also badly hit were the towns of Gympie, Maryborough and Ipswich, as well as areas along the Sunshine Coast. More than a thousand people in Queensland have already evacuated and more than 1,400 homes along the Brisbane River are threatened by the floods, Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk said. More heavy rains are expected in the region this Monday. It is feared that the situation in Brisbane in particular could deteriorate further, it said. More than 600 Queensland schools were scheduled to remain closed on Monday.
New South Wales Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet said hundreds of rescue workers were deployed in his state. So far there have been more than 70 rescue operations, more are likely.