Water level 7 meters in Burketown

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Rescue workers have flown people out of the disaster area by helicopter due to flooding in a remote spot in northeastern Australia. Police on Saturday asked the approximately 100 remaining residents of Burketown to evacuate the small community for the “last time”. In the past few days, 53 people had already flown out. No more rescue flights are allowed to start after Saturday.

The Albert River, which swelled to a record high, turned the area around the city into a lakescape after heavy rainfall over the weekend. Aerial photos show that only the tops of the trees protrude above the murky water. The water level, currently seven meters, is still rising “unpredictably and rapidly”, authorities said.

About half of the houses in the village, which has about 200 inhabitants, are already under water. Residents who have already been evacuated reported on local TV channels that cows were “up to their necks in water and literally swimming for their lives”.

Australia has been repeatedly hit by extreme rainfall over the past two years due to the Pacific weather phenomenon La Niña. In March last year, flooding killed more than 20 people on the east coast. Flooding in eastern Australia also prompted evacuations in Sydney in July and destroyed entire homes in rural areas in November.

A decrease in the water masses around Burketown, which is about 1,600 kilometers from the capital Brisbane in the state of Queensland, was not expected until Sunday. According to the meteorological authorities, drier and warmer weather is predicted in the coming weeks.

Australian research teams have been warning for years that climate change is increasing the risk of natural disasters.

(AFP)

Source: Blick