Severe rain hit Australia’s east coast on Thursday with Sydney receiving nearly a month’s rain overnight, turning suburban roads into rivers and forcing evacuations(撤离) as authorities warn of more rain through the day.
A man swept away by floodwaters in the city’s northwest was rescued by emergency crews, media reported, while television footage(片段) showed vehicles struggling to cross waterlogged streets, fallen power lines and trees, and debris floating in rivers. Residents of a nursing home were evacuated overnight as emergency crews urged the harbor city’s 5 million residents to avoid unnecessary travel and prepare for possible evacuations.
Sydney has received 1,227 mm of rain so far this year, more than its average annual rainfall of 1,213 mm. Over the next 24 hours, many coastal towns could get up to 180 mm, the Bureau of Meteorology said. The tourist hot spot of Bondi recorded around 170 mm over the 24-hour period to 9 a.m. Thursday, official data showed.
Thousands have been ordered to evacuate their homes while businesses cleared essentials to help mitigate their losses. “All hands are on deck to try and save some furniture...so we have been pretty busy lifting things up...moving things away, and things like that,” Nicola Gilfillan, a cafe owner said.
A severe weather warning stretched along the south coast of New South Wales over a distance of more than 600 km but conditions are expected to ease from Thursday evening, the weather bureau(局) said.
Australia’s east coast summer has been dominated by the La Nina weather phenomenon, typically associated with increased rainfall, for the second straight(连续的) year, with most rivers at capacity(满负荷) even before the latest rainfall. Three intense weather systems in six weeks have hit eastern Australia, with several parts of northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland clocking record rains and Sydney registering its wettest March on record. Climate change is also widely believed to be a contributing factor to the severe weather, which has raised questions about how prepared Australia is.
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