One person was missing, hundreds of thousands of houses were without power and the communities were at risk of significant floods in eastern Australia on Saturday after the storm weakened formerly known as Tropical Cyclone Alfred, approached the coast, always bringing heavy rains and dangerous winds.
The third city of Australia, Brisbane, which had been on the way to the cyclone, seemed to have mainly escaped the impact of the storm. But the slow dam system combined with high tides caused widespread floods on the coast in the neighboring state of New South Wales.
Chris Minns, the Prime Minister of the State, said that the crews were looking for a man who disappears in the small town of Dorrigo, who was struck with more than 10 inches of rain during the night after days of heavy linger.
“This emergency is not over,” he said. “The rivers are full, the rain continues and should continue to fall in the days to come, and the wind conditions are very high and extreme.”
Police said the man disappeared had been drive a car It was swept away. He managed to get out of the car and on a tree, but was again overtaken by flood waters before emergency workers could join him.
More than 300,000 customers have lost electricity in the areas affected by the storm, According to the ABCThe country’s main public broadcaster. Emergency workers in New South Wales said they had done 30 flood rescies In the previous 24 hours, mainly people in cars that had tried to travel the flooded streets.
Dozens of communities have remained under evacuation orders in an area known as the northern rivers, including parts of Lismore, a small town about eight hours north of Sydney. Lismore was flooded in a devastating flood in 2022 when the waters increased six feet higher than the previous record, killing 22 people.
The forecasters said On Saturday afternoon, there was a danger that strong precipitation would lead to flood waters which exceed the dikes in the city.
Mr. Minns said that officials were preparing for rapid recovery to the storm consequences, appointing a point person to coordinate efforts. In the floods of 2022, the authorities’ response was criticized by residents as inadequate and delayedLet people take the rescues and the recovery in hand.
