Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Thursday, Sydney's five days of relentless rain subsided as flood-weary locals sought to return h...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - On Thursday, Sydney's five days of relentless rain subsided as flood-weary locals sought to return home to assess the damage, some for the third time this year.
However, because rivers and dams were already at capacity before the most recent storm, catastrophic flooding may continue for several days. Over the weekend, an intense low-pressure system formed off the east coast of Australia.
Windsor residents, who live in one of the worst-affected suburbs, are relieved as water levels in Sydney's west's Hawkesbury River start to drop. However, flash floods brought by by heavy rain forced overnight evacuations throughout New South Wales' middle north coast.
State emergency services Deputy Commissioner Ashley Sullivan told ABC television, "We're in a mixed response right now, returning communities to their homes but still responding to the evolving threat up in the mid-north coast... and central coast (of New South Wales)". Therefore, there are now several flood rescues taking place.
The number of people in New South Wales who have been advised to leave or that they may receive orders to leave has decreased from Wednesday's 85,000 to about 60,000. According to officials, more than 30,000 people have been permitted to re-enter their houses to survey the damage.
Due to the persistent rain, rainfall records for July have been broken in a number of areas, and since Saturday, certain areas have received more rain than usual.
How prepared Australia is for catastrophic weather occurrences has come under scrutiny because of the country's recurrent flooding.
Resuming work that had been put on hold for over ten years by the previous conservative administrations, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has instructed the Treasury to model the effects of climate change on the Australian economy.
For the second year in a row, the La Nina climatic trend, which is normally associated with more rainfall, has dominated the weather along Australia's east coast. Weather officials stated that there is a 50/50 probability that it would return this year even though it ceased in June.
