Australians rescued from roofs after flash floods

Rescuers scramble to pluck stranded residents in New South Wales

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Rescuers plucked more than 100 people from their roofs Monday after a flash flood swamped a small Australian town and sent residents scurrying for safety, officials said.

A weekend downpour over much of the already-sodden eastern state of New South Wales sent waters rising overnight, isolating some towns and communities.

Australia’s east coast has been repeatedly swept by heavy rainfall in the past two years, driven by back-to-back La Nina cycles.

Many people in the town of Eugowra, with a population of about 800 people lying 350 kilometers west of Sydney, scrambled to their roofs to flee the latest flood.

Mud-brown floodwaters have transformed the town into a murky lake dotted with the tops of buildings and trees, television images showed.

“We have had 140 flood rescues in Eugowra alone. More than 100 of these were rescues from a roof,” the state’s emergency services minister, Stephanie Cooke, said.

Stranded residents had been taken to safety by boat and helicopter, she told a news conference.

“This is a very serious situation, not just in Eugowra but in many places,” Cooke said.

New Zealand had sent 12 people on Monday to help battle the state’s floods, she said.

New South Wales’ emergency services were also in contact with United States and Singaporean authorities to secure further support, she said.

NSW has issued 16 immediate evacuation warnings since floods hit the central, western and southern parts of the state.