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Deadly floods swept across Australia‘s east coast on Tuesday, stranding people on bridges and rooftops and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.
Dozens of emergency warnings are in effect in the states of Queensland and New South Wales, where a week-long “rain pump” has dumped a meter (3.2 feet) of water in some areas.
Several waterways have overflowed or breached levees, flooding towns and forcing residents to evacuate or seek safety on higher ground.
Nine people have died and more than a thousand people have been rescued. Authorities have warned that more deaths are likely.
The latest victim was a woman in her 80s whose body was found by police inside a house in the rural town of Lismore.
“She has not yet been formally identified,” NSW Police said.
In the laid-back surf town of Byron Bay, Hannah Leser had enjoyed the weekend celebrating her wedding with 150 guests.
But the new boyfriends are now rescuing friends stranded in the nearby towns of Ballina and Mullumbimby in a borrowed SUV.
About 30 people are camping in a house where the couple was going to spend their honeymoon.
“It’s chaos but all our friends and family are safe,” he told AFP. “This is not the honeymoon I expected, but it is what it is.”
The Australian Army has deployed two MRH-90 Taipan helicopters to help with the rescue effort.
In a daring air rescue, the crew pulled two people to safety as muddy waters lapped at the corrugated metal roof of their home.
Live television footage on public broadcaster ABC showed a rescuer sitting on the roof with the pair, preparing to attach them to the helicopter’s winch.
“We’ve seen people stranded on roofs for hours, we’ve seen children rescued, we’re seeing people stranded on bridges,” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
sailing between roofs
Emergency services were overwhelmed by calls for help and flotillas of makeshift rescue boats fanned out across towns as people tried to get their neighbors to safety.
In Lismore, local MP Janelle Saffin had to swim to safety after being stranded in flood waters.
“We went to the terrace, holding on to the rafters,” he told Nine Newspapers.
Local resident Danika Hardiman was rescued on Monday after she woke up to find floodwaters had reached the balcony of her second-floor apartment on the city’s main street.
She and her partner made it onto the roof and were eventually rescued by “two guys in a boat, two locals,” she told AFP, describing the scenes in Lismore as “horrific”.
“Imagine you’re in a boat sailing past people’s roofs,” he said.
Makeshift evacuation centers have been set up at elementary schools, recreation centers and retired military clubs.
Travis Lavdaras headed to the Ballina airport, where the departure lounge was packed with families, tourists and elderly people trying to escape.
“There were big lakes of water on both sides of the road” on the way to the terminal, he said, with many flights canceled and an evacuation ordered for the nearby area.
Near the town of Grafton, the scale of the disaster was made clear by the sight of buildings submerged almost to roof level, roads washed away and cattle abandoned.
Further south in Sydney, residents endured another day of torrential downpours and were warned to prepare for “major flooding”.
Australia has been on the cutting edge of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, Great Barrier Reef bleaching events and floods becoming more common and intense as global weather patterns change.
Source Credit: TheGuardian
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