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SYDNEY, Australia — At least four people have died and thousands more have been displaced across Australia’s east coast as punishing winds, torrential rains and powerful ocean swells inundated large areas of the country’s two most populous states.
SYDNEY, Australia — Punishing winds, torrential rains and powerful ocean swells have inundated large areas of Australia’s two most populous states, driving thousands of people from their homes and killing at least four people.
The storm system, which has unleashed floods from north of Brisbane in Queensland state to Sydney, more than 500 miles south in New South Wales and beyond, is the result of a slow but very wet swing down the coast by the remains of Tropical Cyclone Oswald that began last week. The system has dumped record amounts of rain in many areas, isolating dozens of communities and snarling traffic in the air and on land.
The floods add one more blow to a barrage of bizarre and destructive weather in the country, which was in the grip of a searing four-month heat wave and scores of huge wildfires before the remains of Tropical Cyclone Oswald made landfall late last week.
The floods continue a period of bizarre and destructive weather in Australia, which has been in the grips of a four-month heat wave that shattered records and ignited bushfires large enough to be seen from outer space.
As the storm system crept southward along the east coast from Brisbane in Queensland all the way to Sydney in New South Wales, more than 500 miles away, it dumped record amounts of rain in many areas, isolating dozens of communities and snarling traffic in the air and on land. More than 53 inches of rain fell in three days in some areas.
But now, talk has turned from the punishing heat to the sheets of rain and wind that battered the coast up through the early hours of Tuesday. Winds approaching 62 miles per hour hit Sydney, where they churned up huge swells at its famed Bondi Beach and drenched the city center. The storm has shattered rainfall records in parts of New South Wales, the Bureau of Meteorology said, although the highest rainfall was recorded about 500 miles north of Brisbane, where 53.5 inches fell in the three days through Sunday morning.
Early on Tuesday, winds approaching 62 miles per hour hit Sydney, the country’s largest city, churning up huge swells at Bondi Beach and drenching the city center.
The city of Bundaberg, about 300 miles north of Brisbane, has been particularly hit hard. More than 7,000 residents have been displaced by the rising floodwaters there and at least 1,000 evacuees had to be airlifted from their homes by military helicopter on Monday and Tuesday morning as the streets churned with water.
The city of Bundaberg, about 300 miles north of Brisbane, has been hit particularly hard. At least 1,000 people had to be airlifted from their homes by military helicopter on Monday and Tuesday morning as the streets churned with water.
The floods come two years after flooding in 2011 left at least 38 people dead and caused some $30 billion of damage across the state.
The flooding was comparable in scale to the catastrophic floods of 2011, which left at least 38 people dead and caused some $30 billion in damage in Queensland. The four deaths reported in the latest flooding have all been in Queensland.
Queensland’s premier, Campbell Newman, on Tuesday visited the stricken city, where he warned that the floodwaters were threatening to carry away entire buildings.
The state’s premier, Campbell Newman, visited Bundaberg on Tuesday, where he warned that the rapidly moving floodwaters were threatening to carry away entire buildings.
“Listen to the roar of the water — that’s not helicopters,” he said during a televised news conference in the city. “You see a lot of locations where there’s literally rapids, white water out there.”
“Listen to the roar of the water — that’s not helicopters,” he said during a televised news conference. “You see a lot of locations where there’s literally rapids — white water out there.”
“Those velocities are what we’re concerned about in terms of taking buildings away,” he added.
In New South Wales, officials estimated that 23,000 people were cut off by the floodwaters. The state government ordered the evacuation of 2,100 people from Grafton, near the border with Queensland. Virgin Australia, the country’s second largest commercial airline after Qantas, said on Tuesday that it was canceling dozens of flights because of the storm, including service between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, the country’s three largest cities.
The situation was little better in northern New South Wales, where the State Emergency Services estimated some 23,000 people had been isolated by the floodwaters. The state government ordered 2,100 people to evacuate from the regional hub of Grafton, near the border with Queensland, as that city suffered its worst-ever floods.
By midafternoon, though, the storm had passed and the skies in Sydney were clear and blue again, suggesting that blistering heat would soon resume.
All four deaths connected with the storm have been in Queensland, where a 3-year-old boy became the latest victim after he was hit by a falling tree in Brisbane on Monday. The others included a motorcyclist whose body was pulled from a creek south of Brisbane and an 81-year-old man whose body was found near Bundaberg.
Meanwhile, Virgin Australia, the country’s second largest commercial airline after national carrier Qantas, announced on Tuesday that it was canceling dozens of flights across the region, including its services between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne — the three largest cities in the country.
The worst of the winds and rain had passed by Tuesday morning, officials said, and Sydney’s skies had turned blue by midafternoon, suggesting that any respite from the blistering heat in both states would be short lived.
