Australia’s southeastern state of New South Wales was hit by heavy rain for the second consecutive day on Thursday, leading to widespread flooding. Over 50,000 people were trapped, more than a hundred schools were forced to close, and thousands of homes lost power supply. The floods have so far claimed the lives of two individuals and left three others missing.
This week, heavy rain has been lashing the northeast of New South Wales, causing multiple towns in the state to experience flooding. The town of Taree, located over 300 kilometers north of Sydney, has been one of the hardest-hit areas by the flooding. The deluge has destroyed numerous homes, roads, bridges, farms, and residents have been stranded, some awaiting rescue on rooftops, while hundreds have been hastily evacuated from their homes.
In the past two days alone, Taree has received one third of its annual average rainfall. The Manning River has reached historic highs, with large areas of the town submerged. Authorities have deployed around 2,500 personnel, rescue boats, helicopters, and hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles to the disaster zone for rescue operations.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns stated during a press conference on Thursday, “We have issued 140 flood warnings, with over 50,000 people trapped due to flooded roads, and 9,500 residential properties affected by the floodwaters. Therefore, we are far from out of danger.”
Andrew Gissing, the head of the Australian Natural Disaster Research Center, described this flooding event as a “one-in-500-year” occurrence, unprecedented in scale.
The New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology has forecasted heavy rainfall in the central, southern regions of the state, as well as the eastern part of Victoria in the next 48 hours.