The Australian authorities rush to help the isolated communities of Queensland after a flood urgency forced thousands of evacuations, reduces the power of houses and carried the sections of a vital highway.
The floods claimed a woman’s life and wreaked havoc in the north of the state, with residents of Townsville, Ingham and Cardwell among the hardest.
The “record” showers should continue, according to the authorities, certain parts of the region already knowing almost 1.3 m (4.2 feet) of rain since Saturday, which has been overflowing rivers and tanks.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – who was informed of response efforts on Monday – said the disaster had highlighted “the best of Australians”.
“I saw Australians help each other in their time,” he wrote on X, adding that the “threat of flood waters” would persist in the affected areas for days.
The efforts to help the hardest areas have been hampered by flood damage in certain parts of the Bruce motorway – the main artery which extends over 1,673 km (1039 miles) from the southern state.
This included the partial collapse of a bridge that could add an additional 700 km to driving roads and slow down the delivery of critical supplies, the Queensland Trucking Association at ABC told.
The Prime Minister of Queensland, David Crisafulli, offered his condolences to the “united” city of Ingham, after a 63 -year -old woman died when a derivation of the Emergency Service of the State (SES) has capsized During a rescue attempt on Sunday.
“We are deeply sorry for their loss,” he told journalists on Monday.
Crisafulli has also urged all residents located in the so -called “black zone” of floods – which includes six Townsville suburbs – so as not to go home, due to the continuous threat posed by the neighboring Ross river.
The Australian meteorology office said the region had received six months of precipitation in three days.
About 2,000 houses could be flooded as water levels increase before their summit scheduled for Tuesday, warned the Townsville disaster management group.
Many houses have already been flooded. A resident of Ingham who lives with her elderly mother told Townsville Bulletin that she had waited for seven hours for the emergency services to help them evacuate after the touch of their property.
“I was crying, I was hysterical. Someone even hung me up when I called (emergency number) triple-0, saying:” We are busy “,” she said.
Although precipitation is now ensuring major flood warnings remain in place for communities along several rivers.
Crisafulli warned that Ingham could be on the right track to discover its worst floods in 60 years if the Herbert river exceeds a peak of 15.2 million.
Emergency workers continued to work 24 hours a day, the SSE receiving 480 calls for help on Sunday evening and making 11 “Swift Water” resumes. Generalized power outages continue to be reported, which makes it impossible for certain communities to request help.
SSE commissioner, Shane Chelepy, urged people to remain vigilant and check their neighbors when possible. He added that some 400 people were now hosted in evacuation centers through Townsville, Ingham and Cardwell.
The authorities also asked the inhabitants to be looking for crocodiles, saying that they could hide in the rivers of their usual habitats.
Located under the tropics, northern Queensland is vulnerable to destructive cyclones, storms and floods.
But climatologists have warned that hotter oceans and a warmer planet create the conditions for more intense and more frequent extreme precipitation events.
