Australia tells tens of thousands to flee floods

Map of eastern Australia, showing areas that had the most rainfall in the past week.

Deadly floods swept Australia’s east coast Tuesday, stranding residents on bridges and rooftops and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Flood warnings were in effect for dozens of areas across the states of Queensland and New South Wales, where a week-long “rain bomb” has dumped a meter (3.2 feet) of water on some areas in a week.

Nine people have died and more than a thousand people have been rescued. Authorities have warned that more fatalities are likely.

“She is yet to be formally identified,” said New South Wales Police.

But the new bride and groom are now spending their honeymoon rescuing friends stranded in the nearby towns of Ballina and Mullumbimby in a borrowed four-wheel-drive.

“It’s chaos but all of our friends and family are safe,” she told AFP. “This is not quite the honeymoon I expected but it is what it is.”

Live television images on public broadcaster ABC showed a rescuer sitting on the roof with the pair, preparing to strap them to the chopper’s winch.

– Sailing past roofs –

In the town of Lismore, local member of parliament Janelle Saffin had to swim to safety after she was stranded in the floodwaters.

Local resident Danika Hardiman was rescued Monday after she woke up to find floodwaters had reached the balcony of her second-floor apartment in the town’s main street.

“Imagine you’re in a boat sailing past people’s roofs,” she said.

Near the town of Grafton, buildings were submerged almost to roof level, roads were washed away and cattle roamed abandoned.

Australia has been on the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and floods becoming more common and more intense as global climate patterns change.

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Originally published as Australia tells tens of thousands to flee floods

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