Dams near Sydney yesterday overflowed after days of torrential rain, as Australia braced for more storms expected to bring dangerous flash flooding to the country’s east.
Downpours have brought relief to areas ravaged by bushfires and drought — as well as chaos and destruction to towns and cities along the eastern seaboard.
The Nepean Dam south of Sydney was at full capacity and spilling over, with video footage showing excess water cascading over the dam wall and downstream.
Two other dams in New South Wales (NSW) — Tallowa and Brogo — were also overflowing and more dams could reach capacity in the coming days, a WaterNSW spokesman told reporters.
Sydney’s dams have seen water levels spike dramatically — the Nepean was just one-third full less than a week ago — although many inland areas facing severe water shortages missed out on the flows.
A devastating months-long bushfire crisis that killed 33 people has effectively been ended by the downpours, with all of the fires in New South Wales out or “controlled.”
Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters in the past few days.
Police said that a man’s body was yesterday discovered in a flooded river on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, although the cause of his death was not immediately clear.
Wild weather is set to ramp up again from today, with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecasting that former Tropical Cyclone Uesi would bring “damaging to destructive winds” and heavy rainfall to the remote tourist destination of Lord Howe Island.
Senior meteorologist Grace Legge said that storms were also expected for Queensland and New South Wales — with areas still recovering from bushfires likely to be hit again.
“Any showers and thunderstorms that do develop are falling on already saturated catchments, so there is a risk with severe thunderstorms of flash flooding,” she said.
Emergency services have warned residents in affected areas to be cautious in the dangerous conditions.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in