Catastrophic floods: 50,000 Australians flee water

A catastrophic flood
50,000 Australians are said to be fleeing the water

7/5/2022 5:04 am

Heavy rains have caused flooding along Australia’s east coast. The government declares the situation a natural disaster, and tens of thousands of people are forced to flee their homes. This is the second catastrophic flood in a matter of weeks.

The Australian government has declared the recent flooding in the state of New South Wales on the east coast of Australia as a natural disaster. Through this, emergency funds should be provided to the affected areas quickly. The situation is particularly dire in the greater Sydney area, where heavy rain has fallen since Friday. Meteorologists have calculated that more rain fell in four days than in London in an entire year.

In total, 50,000 people were ordered to evacuate by Tuesday morning, Australian broadcaster ABC reported. Hundreds of residents called for help overnight. Emergency services repeatedly moved into empty homes and rescued people. Nearly 20,000 households are without electricity. All parts were submerged in one meter of water.

“Never go through that again”

Many citizens were in utter despair. “We’re going to sell. We can’t go through this again,” media quoted Darren Morgan, whose home in the Lancevale suburb was flooded twice in 48 hours by flash floods. A powerful low pressure area between the east coast of Australia and the North Island of New Zealand is responsible for the rainfall, driving moist air and heavy waves along the coast of New South Wales. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is returning from various summits in Europe on Tuesday, wanted to visit the disaster area as soon as possible.

In March, Sydney and large parts of New South Wales and Queensland experienced catastrophic flooding. Many areas still suffer from the devastating effects of historic floods and are now inundated again.