Family tragedy sees Australia flood death toll rise

The bodies of a ‘hero’ mother and her two young children were pulled from a river in Australia yesterday as the death toll rose from cyclone- fuelled floods that devastated parts of the country.

At least five people are now confirmed dead after lashing rain and powerful winds pummelled swathes of Queensland and New South Wales states over the past week, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. Three more remain missing.

In the most recent tragedy, the woman’s car plunged into the swollen Tweed River in northern New South Wales after veering off a muddy road on Monday, entombing the family. An eight-year- old girl escaped and alerted passers-by.

“Police divers have recovered three bodies from a submerged vehicle in Tweed River, near Tumbulgum,” police said, adding that the sunken car had yet to be brought to the surface.

Local media said the dead were a 43-year-old woman, her son, 7, and daughter, 11 and that they were in the flood-ravaged area to help those affected.

Tweed Byron Local Area Commander Wayne Starling said he believed the young girl escaped with the help of her ‘remarkable’ mother.

“That woman is a hero, she died trying to save her children,” he told reporters.

“The mother was trying to get one of the children out of the car when she passed away. She was holding the child.”

The worst of the weather is now over with category four Cyclone Debbie moving out to sea on Saturday, with a massive cleanup underway.

Residents in hard- hit areas, including the New South Wales towns of Lismore, Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads, have been given the all- clear to return home after floodwaters washed through the region, leaving behind thick mud and mountains of debris. — AFP

The tail- end of powerful Cyclone Debbie, which left a trail of destruction in northeast Australia, lashed New Zealand yesterday, closing highways and causing a major landslip.

The storm hit parts of New Zealand still recovering from a devastating earthquake last November and weather officials warned of several days of heavy rain, with some regions set to receive three months’ worth of rain in the next 48 hours.

“This is a significant amount of rain and people are advised to watch out for rapidly rising rivers and streams, flooding and slips,” the Met Office said in a severe weather warning.

As darkness fell, a state of emergency was declared in the city of Whanganui on the North Island, with its mayor warning that mandatory evacuations were likely at first light as rivers were forecast to rise to dangerous levels.

“We have about 20 hours to save your precious things, maybe raise things, maybe check on your elderly neighbour,” the mayor, Hamish McDouall, said in a statement.

Weather officials issued a swathe of rain and wind warnings covering the entire North Island and top of the South.

Cyclone Debbie, a category four storm, one short of the most powerful level five, pounded Australia’s Queensland state last week, smashing tourist resorts, bringing down power lines and shutting down coal mines.

Australian police yesterday retrieved three bodies from a car beneath floodwaters in the swollen Tweed River of New South Wales state, taking to six the number of people killed since the storm hit.

New Zealand’s mountainous terrain makes its roads susceptible to landslides and many regions are still recovering from November’s 7.8-magnitude quake.

The highway into the quake epicentre of Kaikoura was closed yesterday, just hours after reopening fol lowing a weeklong closure to shore up almost 20 potential slip sites. A second major arterial road was blocked by a landslip.

New Zealand’s Civil Defence Force was on standby as other roads were closed and at least one school was evacuated.

In Australia, where the disaster zone stretched 1,000 km (600 miles) from Queensland’s tropical resort islands and Gold Coast tourist strip to the farmlands of New South Wales, about 20,000 homes were still without power yesterday, as flood waters continued to rise in some areas.

Residents of Rockhampton, in central Queensland, were advised to seek higher ground as the rising Fitzroy River approaches a peak forecast for Thursday. Australian insurers have declared the event a catastrophe, with state officials saying recovery and repairs will need months. — Reuters