SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – The Australian coastal enclave of Byron Bay, best known for its celebrity residents and idyllic beaches, was inundated by floodwaters Wednesday as severe storms battered stretches of the country’s east. Torrential rain that began Monday proved unrelenting, with more than 250 millimetres (9.8 inches) falling in the area in 24 hours, forcing many shops in the Byron Bay town centre to close as roads were cut off by rising water levels. […]
Tag: Floods
Flood-ravaged eastern Australia braces for more wild weather
Australian towns devastated by deadly flooding over the past week prepared for further intense weather Sunday, with expected downpours halting volunteer recovery and clean-up efforts. The national weather bureau warned of severe thunderstorms and major flooding in the state of Queensland, where 11 people died in the past week’s floods. Flash flooding is forecast for the major city of Brisbane, home to 2.6 million people. Heavy rains, large hailstones and damaging winds were also expected to hit further south […]
Australia orders 200,000 to flee floods moving towards Sydney
by Maddison Connaughton Agence France-Presse NEWCASTLE, Australia (AFP) – Australia’s emergency services ordered 200,000 people to flee from the path of a wild storm that lurched towards Sydney Thursday after killing 13 people in more than a week of record-setting floods along the east coast. Authorities issued severe rain and wind warnings for a 400-kilometre (250-mile) stretch of coast as water levels rose rapidly — including in suburbs around Sydney, Australia’s largest city and home […]
Hundreds of thousands at risk as Australian floods spread to Sydney
by Maddison Connaughton SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Emergency services ordered some Sydney residents to prepare to flee Wednesday as heavy rainfall barrelled down Australia’s east coast, burying towns in floodwater, killing 13 and putting hundreds of thousands at risk. A week-long torrential downpour has swollen rivers and reservoirs past bursting point, causing chaos in an area 800 kilometres (500 miles) long. From Brisbane to Sydney, more than 30 evacuation warnings are in place and several […]
Australia tells tens of thousands to flee floods
GAFTON, Australia (AFP) – Deadly floods spread down Australia’s east coast Tuesday, stranding residents on rooftops and bridges and prompting authorities to order tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Flood warnings were in effect for dozens of rivers across the states of Queensland of New South Wales, where a days-long “rain bomb” has dumped a metre (3.2 feet) of rain on some areas in a week. Several waterways have already burst their […]
Rooftop rescues in Australia as tens of thousands evacuated from floods
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Australians were ordered to flee their homes Monday, as torrential rain sent floodwaters to record levels, leaving residents stranded on the rooftops of their homes. Eight people have died, and the country’s weather bureau has warned further severe thunderstorms and intense rainfall will cause “life-threatening flash flooding” across a swathe of the central Pacific coastal region. In the country town of Lismore, resident Danika Hardiman woke […]
Brazil storm death toll passes 200: police
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) – The death toll from flash floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in the Brazilian city of Petropolis has surpassed 200, authorities said Wednesday, as they continue to recover bodies more than a week after the storm. Around 51 people are still missing, but that number is expected to go down as bodies are identified and families are reunited, police said. Among the 204 bodies recovered, 188 had been […]
Brazil storm death toll rises to 152
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The death toll from torrential rains that triggered flash floods and landslides in the scenic Brazilian city of Petropolis has risen to 152, authorities said Sunday, as the pope sent his condolences. Rescue workers and residents searching for their missing relatives continued digging through mountains of mud and rubble in the southeastern city, which President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday looked like “scenes of war.” Police said 165 people remain […]
Rescuers scour for survivors after Brazil floods, landslides kill 94
by Louis GENOT / Florian PLAUCHEUR PETROPOLIS, Brazil (AFP) — Rescue workers raced against the clock Wednesday searching for any remaining survivors among mud and wreckage after devastating flash floods and landslides hit the picturesque Brazilian city of Petropolis, killing at least 94 people. Streets were turned into torrential rivers and houses swept away Tuesday when heavy storms dumped a month’s worth of rain in three hours on the scenic tourist town in the hills […]
Flooding kills at least 11 people in Ecuador capital
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) – At least 11 people were killed and 32 injured on Monday after the heaviest flooding to hit Ecuador in nearly two decades triggered a massive landslide in capital Quito, authorities said. Torrents of water carrying stones and mud swept down an avenue in the Ecuadorian city, washing away cars and flooding houses and streets, according to images released by the emergency services. The torrential downpour caused a water collection structure to […]
Malaysian floods death toll rises to 46
The death toll from Malaysia’s worst floods in years rose to 46 Saturday, with five people still missing, officials said, as work crews continued a massive clean-up on December 25. Days of torrential rain caused rivers to overflow last weekend, swamping cities, cutting off major roads, and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Selangor — Malaysia’s most densely populated and wealthiest state, encircling the capital Kuala Lumpur — has been one […]
Heavy rains displace thousands in northeast Brazil
More than 11,000 people have been displaced in the Brazilian state of Bahia due to flooding, with authorities scrambling Saturday to provide relief to residents without alternate housing. The heavy rains have killed 17 people since November, including the latest death on Thursday, the state’s civil protection agency said. A total of 4,185 people were seeking shelter, according to data released by the agency on Friday, after the rains struck 19 cities particularly hard, including […]





