What is rain bomb? Australia hit by rare weather phenomenon, 8 dead. Check pics here
Parts of Australia's Brisbane were under water Monday after heavy rain brought record flooding to some east coast areas, killing eight people
PremiumIn the wake of a severe storm system pummeling Australia's northeastern city on Sunday, causing evacuations, power outages and school closures, parts of Australia’s third-most populous city Brisbane were under water Monday after heavy rain brought record flooding to some east coast areas and killed eight people. Over 1,400 homes in the capital of Queensland state were at risk of flooding while more than 28,000 homes were without power statewide, as pristine beaches on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, which are key tourist attractions, all closed. The flooding in Brisbane and its surroundings is the worst since 2011 when the city of 2.6 million people was inundated by what was described as a once-in-a-century event.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the rainfall over Brisbane had been extraordinary since November when authorities were considering water use restrictions due to a shortage. State premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, "we never expected this rain. This rain bomb is just really, you know, it's unrelenting ... It's just coming down in buckets." More than 100 schools across the southeast of a state famed for abundant sunshine will be closed on Monday. State rescue services said they received 100 requests an hour for help in recent days.
The latest fatality was a man aged in his 50s who drowned on Monday after driving his car into floodwater before dawn at Gold Coast city, south of Brisbane, Queensland state police said. The bodies of the man and his dog were retrieved hours later from a submerged car which had been washed from the road, a police statement said. Among the eight killed in the flooding were a 34-year-old man who tried to swim to safety after the waters submerged his car and another whose vehicle was swept away in the most populous state of New South Wales (NSW).
About 700 people were asked to evacuate from the city of Gympie on Saturday after the Mary River system surged beyond 22.06 m (72.4 ft) for the town's worst flood since the 1880s. Meteorologists said the deluge and thunderstorms would continue through Monday, before starting to ease off in Queensland, but moving south to New South Wales, where some communities at risk in its northeast have been told to evacuate.
The risk of riverine and flash flooding was "very real over coming days," said Steph Cooke, the state's emergency services minister. Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the floods are “very different" to 2011 because the rain pummeled the region for five days. In 2011, the rain had stopped days before the Brisbane River peaked and authorities had warned for several days of flooding downstream.
Additionally, Lismore was bracing for its worst flooding on record. Downtown Lismore was inundated on Monday after days of unrelenting rain and 15,000 people had been evacuated, officials said.
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