The cyclone that tore through Australia’s northeast this week brought fresh misery to people in the south yesterday, causing flash flooding in Melbourne even as residents in distant towns returned to ruined homes.
The tropical system that was Cyclone Yasi, which tore through the northeast earlier this week, was still churning over central Australia and making a series of thunderstorms over Melbourne and other large towns in Victoria much worse, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
More than 175mm of rain fell in just a few hours overnight on Friday in some Melbourne neighborhoods and winds gusting to 130kph knocked down trees, the bureau said.
Drains were overwhelmed, causing flash flooding that covered streets and swamped some homes. The State Emergency Service said 84 people were rescued from cars that stalled in flooded streets, or from inundated properties.
Police and army troops moved through the storm-ravaged coastal town of Tully Heads yesterday, going door-to-door accounting for residents.
Officials spray painted “No Go” as a warning on the worst-hit homes. A few houses were reduced to rubble. A layer of brown sludge covered the ground, leaving a sickening smell wafting throughout the community.
Residents spent the day sifting through the wreckage and dragging people’s possessions back to their owners.
“I’ll take my container back when you’re done with it!” Ian Barrett, 55, joked to his neighbor as his huge blue shipping container lay in the man’s yard, about 90m from where it once stood.
Barrett’s beachfront house was still standing, but was nearly empty inside. The waves ripped everything from the home: furniture, toys and appliances.
“We’re not gonna rebuild here,” Barrett said. “We’d never be able to go to sleep again at night.”
Meanwhile, Sydney residents sweltered through a sixth straight day of more than 30°C heat, the longest stretch on record.
The weather bureau said temperatures had been in the mid- to high-30s since last Sunday, the most enduring heatwave since recordkeeping began 153 years ago.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
The nation’s usually punctual high-speed rail system yesterday was hit by major disruptions after all scheduled services were canceled and replaced with three hourly trains offering only non-reserved seating, affecting more than 200,000 passengers. Preliminary findings indicate the disruption was caused by a faulty power module in a track switch control cabinet, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said, adding that as a full system inspection could only be conducted after operations end for the day, a decision on whether normal service would resume today would be announced before the first train departs. During a routine inspection early yesterday, a switch signal abnormality
RSS