Australian towns devastated by deadly flooding over the past week prepared for further intense weather yesterday, with downpours halting volunteer recovery and clean-up efforts.
The national weather bureau warned of severe thunderstorms and major flooding in the state of Queensland, where 11 people died in floods last week.
Flash flooding is forecast for the country’s third-largest city, Brisbane, home to 2.6 million people.
Photo: AFP/AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE
Heavy rains, large hailstones and damaging winds were also expected to hit further south in the state of New South Wales, including the town of Lismore, which last week experienced record flooding and dramatic rescue efforts to save residents stranded on their roofs.
The death toll from the floods in New South Wales stands at five, after the body of a man was found on Saturday.
Some locals in flood-affected areas have expressed frustration on social media about what they said is a lack of police, defence personnel and emergency services to help with the recovery effort.
In Lismore, Tom Wolff, who runs a local charity organization, said he spent Saturday collecting donations of insulin, which were delivered by a privately chartered helicopter to diabetic residents in the nearby town of Woodburn.
Australian Minister of Defense Peter Dutton yesterday defended the work of his department in the aftermath of the record flooding, saying he was “absolutely satisfied with the defense response.”
He said that 5,000 troops would arrive in flood-affected areas within the next few days.
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