Canberra, March 30 (Prensa Latina) Heavy rains have inundated Australia’s east coast today, submerging entire cities, causing thousands of people to flee their homes for the second time in recent weeks.
An intense depression hit overnight in several towns in northern New South Wales, which had been suffering from record flooding for more than a month.
Some regions received a month’s worth of rain in less than six hours, officials said.
The state’s Emergency Services Secretary, Stephanie Cooke, said during a news conference that the heavy rains were worsening soil already saturated by the recently overflowing rivers.
Cooke said there were a total of 14 evacuation orders and eight warnings along the north coast of New South Wales over a distance of around 500 km.
In the city of Lismore, one of the hardest-hit cities by record flooding in early March, the water level in the Wilsons River exceeded the 10.65 meter levee height.
The city, home to nearly 30,000 people, received around 400 millimeters of rain in 24 hours through Wednesday morning, data showed.
Images on social media showed stranded vehicles, including a trailer, drifting in flooded streets.
Police said they have been searching for a woman missing in flooding near Lismore since Tuesday night after reports her vehicle became stuck.
So far, two people have died in the recent weather event. The weather bureau forecast that “very locally heavier rain bands” will soon fall, which could cause more flash flooding.
Heavy rains and subsequent flooding that began in late February and lasted several days left 22 dead.
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