AUSTRALIA’S FLOODS EASE
Emergency supplies rushed to flood-hit areas as rescues, evacuations continue
RESCUE teams yesterday raced emergency supplies to flood-hit Australians, as trapped residents waited for swollen rivers to ebb, so that clean-up can begin.
Eight million people in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales woke to brilliant blue skies for the first time in a week, as a torrential downpour dubbed the “Big Wet” finally ceased.
But across the vast flood zone, thousands of homes remained underwater, many communities were still isolated and police reported the first fatalities.
Officers said they discovered the remains of a 25-year-old Pakistani man trapped in his car in 6m of floodwater in Sydney.
The man, who has not been named, had been on the phone with emergency services when the incident occurred and may have been unable to escape the vehicle because the electrics failed.
Queensland police said divers found a second man dead in a vehicle
that was upturned in a river.
Since the flooding began last week, emergency services have responded to more than 11,000 calls for help, rescuing at least 950 people from floodwaters.
But the focus has shifted to ferrying in food, medical supplies and other essentials and transporting out those in urgent need.
Thousands are still without power and energy providers have warned electricity will not be restored in the worst-affected areas until later in the week.
The Red Cross reported 6,000 people had turned up at evacuation centres in the past 24 hours and 1,399 people had registered to reunite with loved ones.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who toured affected areas near Sydney by helicopter yesterday, told local radio he had witnessed an “expanse of water” and “homes that are totally subsumed”.
He warned of a “massive cleanup” ahead, saying the government already made 10,000 disaster recovery payments to residents.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the flooding in some regions had been the worst in a century, with tens of thousands fleeing their homes and thousands more remaining on evacuation alert.
Many rivers have stabilised or begun to recede, but water levels are not expected to substantially change until Saturday.