The Australian Weather Service continues to warn of “life-threatening” flooding and “huge” hailstones in Queensland.
Following severe storms in eastern and southeastern Australia, the death toll rose to at least nine on Wednesday. According to police, among other things, the bodies of three men whose boat capsized off Brisbane the previous day were recovered. A total of eleven men were out on a fishing trip when their boat was hit by the storm. The remaining eight fishermen were rescued.
According to police, one of the victims was a nine-year-old girl who was swept away by floodwaters in a Brisbane suburb the day before and thrown into the sewer system.
Flash flooding swept three women into a storm drain in the Queensland town of Gympie on Tuesday. A 40-year-old woman died, one woman survived and the third woman is still missing. The search is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.
Storms in the east, drought in the west
In Queensland, tens of thousands of homes were left without power because electricity poles were knocked down. The Australian Weather Service continued to warn of “dangerous” storms, “life-threatening” flooding, “enormous” hail and “destructive” winds in Queensland.
While eastern Australia is hit by strong storms, the west of the huge continent is suffering from drought and bushfires. Australia is particularly affected by climate change. A February 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report assumes the country will be hit by devastating natural events even more frequently in the future. (APA)