Hundreds of residents evacuated their homes as “unprecedented” torrential rain and flooding in northern Australia hit across the continent, after weeks of constant heat and bushfires.
“In seven days, we’ve received our annual total rainfall,” said Jenny Hill, the mayor of Townsville. “We’ve never seen weather like this.”
She added that about 18,000 residents had lost power and that hundreds of others had evacuated, including some who left their suburb on a garbage truck. Elsewhere, two police officers were stuck clinging to trees for half an hour after their car was washed away by floodwaters, while residents reported snakes and crocodiles roaming the streets.
“Cannot stress it enough stay out of the water,” one woman urged on Facebook.
“This continued heavy rain and flooding has damaged homes, isolated communities and displaced people from their homes,” Shannon Fentiman, the acting communities minister in Queensland, said in a statement.
The floods have been declared a “catastrophe” by the Insurance Council of Australia, while the government is giving each displaced resident up to 180 Australian dollars, or $130, to help cover the cost of food, medication and clothing.
