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SYDNEY – Hundreds of people have been rescued when severe flooding hit the Sydney region for the fourth time in less than 18 months.
Days of torrential rain have flooded some suburbs, sweeping cars off roads and engulfing bridges, as authorities warned that dangerous weather would continue.
“This event is far from over,” New South Wales Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet warned on Tuesday. There are currently 102 evacuation orders in effect across the state, including nearly two dozen new ones overnight, he said, adding that evacuation orders or warnings had affected about 50,000 people.
The images show record floods in Australia
The Australian government has said the floods are a natural disaster, allowing some victims to access recovery funds. On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been informed of the situation after a clandestine trip to Ukraine.
The east coast of Australia has experienced four major floods in less than 18 months, as La Niña’s weather pattern has caused cooler, wetter conditions. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently declared the end of La Niña 2021-2022, but warned that it could be re-formed later this year. The current showers are caused by a low-pressure system on the east coast, the office said.
Sydney was already suffering its rainiest year so far, when 1 month and a half of rain fell in the city only the first four days of July.
A widely viewed BBC chart captured the plight of Sydney: it showed that Australia’s most populous city received significantly more rain from Friday to Monday than the London average, which is no stranger to rain, in a year.
A meteorologist said the city was receiving the equivalent of all the water from Sydney Harbor every day during the downpour.
“It’s hard to understand that we’re seeing a rain of this magnitude hitting this part of Australia once again,” Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said Monday on local Nine Network television.
A spokesman for the state emergency services, or SES, said Tuesday at noon that the agency had conducted 152 flood rescues in the past 24 hours, and nearly 300 since flooding began in some areas on June 28. There have been no known deaths, he said. dit. (The death of a Sydney kayaker over the weekend was not related to the floods, according to police.)
Images in the news showed water completely covering a bridge in the city of Windsor, northwest of Sydney.
For some Sydney residents in areas historically prone to flooding, the flood was the third in four months.
“Where do you start? Mentally, physically, financially, it destroys you, “Judy White told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She said she was still cleaning up from the latest flood when water flooded her home again in the Sydney suburb of Londonderry.
Scientists say climate change is increasing the frequency and ferocity of natural disasters, raising questions about whether people should continue to live in areas where “once a century” floods are becoming more frequent.
James Pittock, a climate expert at the National University of Australia, told the ABC that the government should offer to buy 5,000 or 6,000 of the most flood-prone homes in west Sydney.
Perrottet said 19,000 homes were without light on Tuesday due to heavy rains, which are expected to continue this week.
SES Commissioner Carlene York, who said the floods had “stretched” her agency’s resources, urged people not to drive unless absolutely necessary.
“If you don’t have to travel by road, please do nothing but essential travel,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. The waters rise very quickly, as we saw last night. It can put you in danger and require emergency services agencies to come to your rescue. “
York also warned that even after the waters receded, roads could remain damaged.
On Tuesday, the state’s regional transportation minister said the flooding had caused a 200-foot-deep, 130-foot-wide hole to open next to a railroad in the Blue Mountains to the west. of Sydney.