Parts of Australia’s east coast are flooded again four months after historic floods in March. The situation is sometimes so dramatic that the government has declared the floods in the state of New South Wales a natural disaster in order to speed up the release of funds for flood victims. Sydney is especially affected. In the larger metropolis, entire areas were flooded several meters high. Those affected were desperate and regional Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet asked the people to follow the instructions of the authorities. “If there is an evacuation order, please leave your house.”
According to the politician, the crisis is “anything but over”: heavy rain is also expected in parts of New South Wales for the rest of the week.
streams from the sky
Meteorologists calculated that more precipitation fell in just four days than in London in an entire year. That makes clear what kind of streams came from heaven. A powerful low pressure area between Australia’s east coast and New Zealand’s North Island is responsible for driving moist air and heavy waves to the coast of New South Wales.
“Due to previous above-average rainfall in summer and parts of autumn, this rain falls on wet soils and full reservoirs,” climate expert Mark Howden of the Australian National University wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. The result: the rivers swell at lightning speed and burst their banks.
Warning for extreme weather conditions
Howden warned that such extreme weather events will become more frequent in the future “if we don’t act now”. A clear plan is needed quickly to counteract the effects of global warming. Because Australia in particular is suffering the effects of climate change – heat waves, bushfires and floods on an increasing scale and with shorter intervals are the result.
In March there was devastating flooding in Sydney and much of New South Wales and Queensland. Many Australians are still suffering the devastating effects of the historic floods and fearing for their very existence once again.
political test
The crisis is the first major test for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government. The Labor chief, who has only been the new prime minister since May, has made the fight against climate change a central point of his agenda. To speed this forward, he is planning a new “mega ministry for climate change, energy, environment and water”. The conservative previous government of coal lawyer Scott Morrison, on the other hand, has been criticized for its passive climate policy. Albanian, who is expected to return from a trip to Europe on Tuesday, wanted to travel personally to the disaster area as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, those affected were desperate. “We’re going to sell. We can’t go through this again,” the media was quoted as saying by a man named Darren Morgan, who has lived in the Sydney suburb of Lansvale for over 20 years. His house was flooded twice in 48 hours due to flash floods.
Evacuation orders for 50,000 people
On Tuesday, a total of 50,000 people had been evacuated. Hundreds of residents called for help overnight. The emergency services went out again and again to clear houses and rescue people. Nearly 20,000 households were without electricity. Streets were flooded with meters of water, bridges were washed away. Rail traffic was partially interrupted by landslides.
Some areas, such as the Congewai Valley in the Hunter region, were cut off from the outside world because of the bodies of water. It will likely be days before the area is accessible again. “The main road in and out of the valley washed away overnight,” says resident Jill Crawford-Lane. “Every family here is affected, we can’t even reach our neighbors who live only a kilometer away.”
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
