MELBOURNE, Australia. Record-breaking floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have claimed the lives of four people, left one missing, and stranded tens of thousands, officials confirmed Friday, as rain began to ease across affected regions.
In New South Wales, the worst-hit state, around 50,000 residents have been cut off by floodwaters following days of relentless downpours. The low-pressure system responsible for the deluge has since moved further south toward Sydney and its surrounding areas.
According to police, four bodies have been recovered from floodwaters in New South Wales since Wednesday. Three of the victims had driven into inundated areas, while one man was found dead on the veranda of his flooded home. The latest fatality was a man in his 70s, whose body was discovered in a submerged car near Coffs Harbour on Friday. Authorities said the car had veered off the road into floodwaters.
A 49-year-old man remains missing after he was last seen walking near a flooded road in Nymboida on Wednesday night.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Christopher Minns visited the disaster zone Friday to inspect flood-ravaged communities—some of which have experienced the highest flood levels ever recorded.
Minns commended the extraordinary efforts of emergency personnel and community volunteers who have rescued 678 people in recent days, including 177 in the last 24 hours alone.
“It’s an amazing, heroic logistical effort where, in very difficult circumstances, many volunteers put themselves in harm’s way to rescue a complete stranger,” Minns said during a press briefing in Maitland. “And over the coming days and weeks, we will hear scores of stories of locals being plucked out of impossible, desperate situations.”
“Without the volunteers, we would have had hundreds of deaths and we’re in deep, deep gratitude to those people who volunteered their time,” he added.
Despite clearer skies and receding rivers, New South Wales State Emergency Service Commissioner Mike Wassing warned that floodwaters could still rise in some areas due to continued runoff into catchments.
“We still do have active flood rescues still coming into the system and we’re dealing with those on a case-by-case basis,” Wassing said. “We have seen that tempo drop off, and that’s a good thing.”
Bellingen Shire Council Mayor Steve Allan said the ongoing challenge in reaching cut-off communities was being made worse by landslides and damaged roads, and bridges.
“We’ve woken up to blue skies which is a great thing,” Allan remarked. “Our rivers are slowly receding and I think we’re probably transitioning from the response phase into the recovery phase this morning.”
Authorities continue to monitor the situation closely as emergency crews work to reach isolated towns and assist those impacted by the catastrophic flooding.
Edgaroo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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