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dpa
Sydney
Half a million people were facing evacuation in the eastern Australian state of New South Wales as rain continued to fall Thursday.
State Premier Dominic Perrottet said some 500,000 people across the state were subject to evacuation warnings or orders, with 200,000 people already told to leave their homes.
“People are waking up today to see much of our state underwater,” Perrottet said in a morning press conference, warning that “things will get worse right before they get better here in our state.”
The State Emergency Service (SES) said Thursday morning it had responded to more than 3,100 requests for assistance over the previous 24 hours, including 219 flood rescues, of which 56 were in the Greater Sydney Area.
Major flooding was expected in western Sydney along several rivers, with dozens of suburbs on high alert.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Queensland, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the conditions would remain unstable for the next 24 to 48 hours across the state’s south east.
“These are unprecedented times,” Palaszczuk said. “I have lived in Brisbane essentially all my life and I haven’t seen storms and floods like this, all being thrown at us at once.” The death toll of the historic floods affecting Australia’s east coast rose to at least 13 on Wednesday.
Local authorities said at least nine people died in Queensland and five in New South Wales.
The extreme weather was triggered by a slow-moving low-pressure system.
Australia is particularly affected by climate change. In mid-January, large parts of the country were still sweltering under a merciless heatwave, with temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius recorded in the west of the country.
Sydney
Half a million people were facing evacuation in the eastern Australian state of New South Wales as rain continued to fall Thursday.
State Premier Dominic Perrottet said some 500,000 people across the state were subject to evacuation warnings or orders, with 200,000 people already told to leave their homes.
“People are waking up today to see much of our state underwater,” Perrottet said in a morning press conference, warning that “things will get worse right before they get better here in our state.”
The State Emergency Service (SES) said Thursday morning it had responded to more than 3,100 requests for assistance over the previous 24 hours, including 219 flood rescues, of which 56 were in the Greater Sydney Area.
Major flooding was expected in western Sydney along several rivers, with dozens of suburbs on high alert.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Queensland, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the conditions would remain unstable for the next 24 to 48 hours across the state’s south east.
“These are unprecedented times,” Palaszczuk said. “I have lived in Brisbane essentially all my life and I haven’t seen storms and floods like this, all being thrown at us at once.” The death toll of the historic floods affecting Australia’s east coast rose to at least 13 on Wednesday.
Local authorities said at least nine people died in Queensland and five in New South Wales.
The extreme weather was triggered by a slow-moving low-pressure system.
Australia is particularly affected by climate change. In mid-January, large parts of the country were still sweltering under a merciless heatwave, with temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius recorded in the west of the country.
