Six people were confirmed dead and three missing yesterday as wild storms continued to lash Australia's east coast, smashing boats, flooding roads and cutting power to 200,000 homes.
The Hunter Valley and Central Coast regions north of Sydney were declared disaster zones after being pounded by gale-force winds and torrential rains for a second day.
Massive seas ran aground at least 12 pleasure craft moored in Sydney Harbor, although fears were easing that a coal freighter stranded at Newcastle would break up and create an environmental disaster.
Police put the official death toll at six, including a couple in their fifties whose car was washed off a bridge.
Searchers also found the bodies of four members of a family of five -- three children and a couple in their thirties -- carried away when a highway collapsed.
The toll appeared set to rise, with unconfirmed media reports that the police had located remains of the other family member.
A Newcastle man was also missing after falling down a stormwater drain late on Friday, police said.
With Australia beginning a long holiday weekend, officials advised motorists to scrap plans to travel to popular tourist spots in the state's north, saying a number of major roads were closed.
Power utility EnergyAustralia said 200,000 homes had no electricity and could remain blacked out until late next week.
"This is the worst storm and the worst damage our electricity network has seen for more than 30 years," EnergyAustralia network general manager Geoff Lilliss said.
Hundreds of people were evacuated as floodwaters rose, including 65 elderly residents of a Central Coast nursing home.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm dumped 300mm of rain on some areas, with winds peaking at 120kph.
It said conditions had eased slightly yesterday morning, granting a reprieve to emergency services struggling to cope with more than 5,000 calls for assistance.
But meteorology bureau forecaster Julie Evans said that after causing extensive flooding in Newcastle, the storm was likely to intensify as it moved south toward Sydney before heading out to sea.
"It will be the sting in the tail in the system before it moves off to the east," she told Sky News.
Sydney ferry services were suspended for a second day amid huge swells.
Officials said at least a dozen recreational boats in Sydney Harbor had broken their moorings and run aground and that 30 more needed to be towed to safety, while a beachside wharf collapsed into to sea.
But the 30,000-tonne vessel Pasha Bulker, which ran aground on Friday when the storm first hit, appeared to be structurally sound and there was no sign that its 800 tonnes of oil and fuel was leaking.
A number of other ships that were also in danger of becoming stranded had managed to steam into deeper waters overnight, officials said.
The Pasha Bulker sparked a dramatic rescue on Friday as a helicopter braved gale-force winds to pluck its Filipino and Korean crew to safety from the ship's deck.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS