storm
Severe flooding in Australia
Flooding in the town of Lismore in north east New South Wales. Photo: Jason O’brien/AAP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
As much rain as usual in a year: In Australia, climate change is making itself felt in a life-threatening form these days. Thousands of people have to be evacuated.
Torrential rain has further exacerbated severe flooding in eastern Australia.
Many people, especially around the city of Lismore in the state of New South Wales, fled from the rapidly rising water masses to the roofs of their houses and were waiting for help there, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday. He spoke of a “crisis situation” and wanted to discuss how to proceed with the country’s emergency authorities later that day.
Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg described the situation as “unprecedented” and “life-threatening”. More than 15,000 people in the region have already been brought to safety from the floods. “We’ve never seen anything like it around here,” the Australian news agency AAP quoted the mayor as saying. Floods had also recently occurred in Australia’s largest city, Sydney – according to meteorologists, it was the wettest summer in the metropolis in 30 years.
50,000 houses without electricity
In the neighboring state of Queensland, the death toll rose to eight. Police say three people are still missing. The metropolis of Brisbane and the cities of Gympie and Maryborough as well as areas along the Sunshine Coast were particularly badly affected. In some areas it rained as much in a few days as it normally does in a whole year.
Tens of thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed by the “catastrophic floods”, it said. Over 50,000 homes were without power. Hundreds of schools remained closed, public transport such as buses, trains and ferries stopped operating. The trigger for the extreme weather is a low-pressure area that is only moving slowly.
Australia is particularly hard hit by climate change. In mid-January, large parts of Down Under were still sweating under a merciless heat bell. In the west of the country, values of more than 50 degrees were recorded in some cases.