Disasters & Accidents

At least 6 killed after flash floods hit eastern Australia

Sydney, Australia, Feb 27 (EFE).- At least six people have died and one other person was missing amid flash floods in eastern Australia, authorities reported on Sunday.

“We never expected this rain. This rain bomb is just really unrelenting,” Australian state Queensland’s premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a press conference.

“It’s just coming down in buckets, it’s not like a waterfall. It’s like waves of water just coming down.”

Torrential rains have inundated several Australian cities, including parts of Queensland’s capital Brisbane, since the beginning of the week.

More than 1,400 houses in Brisbane were damaged and over 28,000 others suffered power cuts amid the flood waters, which in some areas reached as high as three meters.

Some 600 schools in Queensland will remain closed on Monday, in the wake of one of the region’s worst natural disasters in decades.

The death toll jumped to six after a 34-year-old man drowned when he was swept away by floodwaters.

Another body was found early Sunday, while two people lost their lives on Saturday and two others on Friday.

Meanwhile, policemen were searching for a man in his 70s who fell into a river in Brisbane on Friday.

The Australian Meteorological Service issued a new alert on Sunday, forecasting an increase in rainfall in in Queensland and New South Wales during the next 24 hours. EFE

aus-nc/smq/ks

Related Articles

Back to top button