Sydney, March 29 (BNA) Heavy rain inundated eastern Australia, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of flood-weary residents for the second time this month as authorities warned severe weather could continue for the next 24 hours.
The death toll from recent floods has risen to two after a man was found dead in Queensland after his car got stuck in flood waters.
Several towns in northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland are still struggling to clear tons of rubble after devastating floods earlier in March killed at least 21 people and washed away hundreds of farms, homes and livestock.
New South Wales Minister of Emergency Services Stephanie Cook said several buildings that were flooded a month ago in some of the worst-hit areas are expected to be submerged again.
“It’s an unfortunate reality of the current situation we’re facing,” Cook said.
Amid recovery efforts, the Met Office on Tuesday warned of potentially life-threatening flash floods along NSW’s northern coast across a distance of more than 500 km (311 miles). The Met Office said scattered rain could reach 300 mm (12 inches) in some areas over a period of six hours.
With rivers rising, residents of the northern New South Wales town of Lismore, which was among the hardest hit by record flooding a month ago, were ordered to evacuate Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re in the hands of the gods today,” Lismore Mayor Steve Craig told Channel Nine TV on Tuesday. Craig said another flood in a matter of weeks while residents were on the right track “just drains you emotionally and mentally.”
“Just one more time, here we go again,” Paul Sullivan, business owner in Lismore told ABC, after his shop was evacuated to limit any flood damage. “At least after getting in the water, there’s nothing here that can kind of get pushed out into the gutters.”
Television footage showed residents pulling sandbags from emergency services before fleeing their homes. The Defense Ministry said about 3,300 military personnel would remain in the flood-affected areas to help evacuate residents.
Amid criticism of the slow relief, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, lagging in the polls in an election year, declared the floods a national emergency and identified disaster areas in flood-stricken towns, which would receive additional funds to recover.
Summer on Australia’s east coast, usually associated with increased precipitation, was dominated by the La Nina weather pattern for the second year in a row, with many rivers already near capacity before the last inundation. Official data showed that some places saw around 280 mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9 a.m. Tuesday (22:00 GMT Monday).
HF