Tears of joy met rain. Then just tears.

Deluge hit Australia cows after drought

What began as welcomed rain after several years of crippling drought in Australia turned into a catastrophe after record-breaking downpour flooded the northeastern coast, killing hundreds of thousands of cattle, wiping away the livelihood of many farming communities, and threatening one of the country’s vital industries.

Nearly 50 million acres of land in the state of Queensland was inundated this past week, officials said, by two years worth of rain that had drowned swaths of land that, not too long ago, were parched.

Parts of Queensland, particularly the coastal areas, saw more than 11 inches of rain last week.

Officials estimate that more than 300,000 herd cattle were killed, though that number could rise. One producer who normally has about 70,000 cattle has found only 1,000 as of last week, officials said.

Countless carcasses, many huddled together in mud, have been discovered as water began to recede. Officials “were literally ferrying one barrel of hay at a time” to feed surviving cattle that have been isolated by floodwater, Georgie Somerset, general president of Agforce Queensland, which represents farmers, said at a news conference.

“The speed and intensity of the unfolding tragedy makes it hard to believe that it’s just a week since farmers’ elation at receiving the first decent rains in five years turned to horror at the devastating and unprecedented flood that quickly followed,” Michael Guerin, AgForce Queensland’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Many farmers, Guerin said, have not only lost their livelihood, but are also left with crippling debt.

“What I’m concerned about now is the next two to five years and how we support these people to actually get back on their feet to restock their companies, to rebuild their infrastructure to rebuild fences ... and get their businesses back and running,” Somerset said.

Australia’s economy relies heavily on its cattle herds, a majority of which are raised in Queensland. It’s the world’s third-largest beef and veal exporter in 2017. That fiscal year, the country exported about 1 million tons of beef and veal to 78 countries, including Japan, the United States, South Korea, China and Indonesia.

The Queensland government has given more than $100 million in aid, in addition to $3 million in mental health services for flood victims.

Australia has been at the epicenter of weather extremes, having recently endured its hottest January in recorded history.

The continent’s climate has warmed by about 2 degrees since 1910, leading to more frequent heat waves and severe drought conditions, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Eight of Australia’s top-10 warmest years on record have come in the past 13 years.