A man died when his car was swamped by raging floodwaters in northeastern Australia, where thousands of homes have been cut off by wild weather, officials said yesterday.
The 70-year-old’s body was found near his submerged vehicle around midnight at Coffs Harbour, 540km north of Sydney, police said, bringing the death toll caused by the floods to two.
Emergency services estimated 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has left two Australian states as disaster zones and forced widespread evacuations.
Freak winds flung a sheet of metal through an office block window killing a 46-year-old man on Wednesday on Queensland’s Gold Coast tourist strip, while torrential rains deluged coastal towns.
“We could be talking weeks of inundation for some areas, if not longer,” an emergency service spokesman told the AAP newswire.
The official disaster zone was extended along a wide stretch of coast to include Coffs Harbour and towns further south, as parts of the main interstate highway vanished under meters of water.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would visit affected areas “as appropriate” and offered his condolences to the family of the storm’s latest victim.
“We continue to monitor closely the flood situation [and are] working with local authorities on what needs to be done in terms of response to that extraordinary downpour and the damage which has resulted from it,” Rudd said.
The extreme weather was easing but there was a risk of further flash floods, while ocean swells of up to 10m were pounding the coast, the weather bureau said.
“Rainfall totals today are not expected to be as high as those recorded over the last couple of days and will continue in a decreasing trend,” it said. “However rain will still be locally heavy at times today and as a result may still produce flash flooding and exacerbate existing river flooding.”
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