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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 2 March 2022
Thousands evacuate in worst Australian floods in a decade

Associated Press "Back in the U.K., we do
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — weather warnings for 20
Tens of thousands of peo- millimeters (1 inch) of rain,"
ple were ordered to evacu- Threlfall said. "My weather
ate their homes by Tuesday gauge here has recorded
and hundreds of thousands 950 millimeters (37 inches)
more were told to prepare in three days. Brisbane's
to flee as parts of Australia's average is about 1,200 mil-
southeast coast were inun- limeters (47 inches) for the
dated by the worst flooding year, so we've pretty much
in more than a decade. At had 80% of annual rainfall
least 10 people have died. in three days.
New South Wales Premier "No real escaping the wa-
Dominic Perrottet said ter, I guess."
there had been 1,000 res- The extraordinary rainfall
cues in the state by Tues- comes as the United Na-
day and more than 6,000 tion's Intergovernmental
calls for authorities to help. Panel on Climate Change
Scores of residents, some reported this week that vast
with pets, spent hours swathes of Australia have
trapped on their roofs by a already lost 20% of its rain-
fast-rising river in the town fall and the country's fire
of Lismore in the state's risk has gone beyond worst-
north. People wade through flood water as they relocate in Chinderah, Australia, Tuesday, March 1, case scenarios developed
The body of a woman in 2022. just a few years ago.
her 80s was found by a Associated Press Australia's hottest and dri-
neighbor in her Lismore est year on record was
home on Tuesday, a police ters northwest of Brisbane volunteer bush care group Rick Threlfall and Steve 2019, which ended with
statement said. There were on Sunday has since been which has tallied more than Hadley, meteorologists devastating wildfires across
no details of how she died. confirmed dead. 4,000 hours of planting and who moved from England southeast Australia. The fires
Dozens of cars were Queensland Police Com- weeding along Enoggera to Australia and have been directly killed 33 people
trapped on a bridge in missioner Katarina Carroll Creek over the past six living in Newmarket, Bris- and another 400 people
the nearby town of Wood- said another man in his 70s years. "Just unbelievable. bane, for almost a decade, were killed by the smoke.
burn over Monday night remained missing after fall- When it did start coming in, were in the process of sand- The fires also destroyed
with both the bridge's ap- ing from his moored yacht it went up very quick." bagging the ground floor more than 3,000 homes
proaches submerged. Up in the state capital Bris- Barfoot said his daughter of their home but couldn't and razed 19 million hect-
to 50 people were rescued bane into a swollen river on and her husband swam finish in time to beat the ares (47 million acres) of
from the bridge early Tues- Saturday. to the house to help with rapidly rising flood. farmland and forests.q
day, officials said. The cleanup was underway the rescue after notifying
"We had no capabilities to in Brisbane, Australia's third emergency services that
get them off in the dark so most populous city, despite her grandmother — who
we just had to make sure more storms forecast for moved to Australia from
that they bunkered down later in the week. Brisbane Christchurch, New Zea-
and we went in this morn- Lord Mayor Adrian Schrin- land, after earthquakes
ing and got them all out," ner urged people to regis- there in 2011 killed 185 peo-
Woodburn State Emergen- ter for the "Mud Army," as ple — needed to get out.
cy Services Commander the thousands of volunteers "We were pretty much
Ashley Slapp said. who mobilized to help out stuck upstairs at that point,"
The floodwaters were mov- after the 2011 floods were Barfoot said. "That was
ing south into New South dubbed. quite traumatic for my
Wales from Queensland Thousands of homes in mother-in-law — we got
state in the worst disaster in Brisbane were inundated her out (of New Zealand)
the region since what was Sunday, many by swol- after the earthquakes, so it
described as a once-in-a- len creeks in suburbs such was all a bit reminiscent of
century event in 2011. as Ashgrove, where Kelvin that for her.
Perrottet said 40,000 peo- Barfoot had to evacuate "Now she's back home. She
ple had been ordered to with members of his fam- wanted to come home.
evacuate, while 300,000 ily, including his 99-year-old She was a bit traumatized,
others had been placed mother-in-law, Mina Baker, but she's tough. She came
under evacuation warn- in a State Emergency Ser- down and asked me if
ings. vice rescue boat. there was anything to do
Government meteorologist The family moved back into to help!"
Jonathan Howe described the top floor of their two- Schrinner said the six-day
the recent rainfall in north- story home and started re- rainfall in downtown Bris-
ern New South Wales and moving damaged furniture bane — 792.8 millimeters
southern Queensland as and electrical appliances (31.2 inches) through Mon-
"astronomical." that had been covered by day morning — was sig-
Nine of the 10 deaths re- almost 1.5 meters (5 feet) of nificantly higher than the
ported so far were in water. previous record of 655.8
Queensland. A 76-year- "We thought we were millimeters (25.8 inches) set
old man who disappeared pretty well prepared for it," when flooding devastated
with his vehicle in floodwa- said Barfoot, who leads a the city in 1974.