The state of Victoria – the second most populous in Australia – has been hit by a sudden rise in water levels which has notably led to evacuations in the town of Maribyrnong, located in the suburbs of Melbourne.
“Our house is under water,” Leah Caluzzi, a resident of Maribyrnong told AFP, “the water is way above the waist.”
In the streets, cars are swallowed by the waves, while residents have to be evacuated on inflatable boats.
State Premier Daniel Andrews said 500 homes have been “flooded” and rescuers can no longer access 500 properties surrounded by water.
“These numbers will definitely increase. Helicopters are currently carrying out damage assessment,” Andrews said early Friday afternoon, noting that helicopters were still carrying out “damage assessment”.
Most of the rain had passed by late Friday morning, but state emergency services warned that the floods would worsen when the watersheds located upstream discharged their overflow.
“The situation in the state of Victoria continues to deteriorate,” emergency service spokesman Tim Wiebusch told reporters.
He estimated that “few regions” of this state would be “spared by significant flooding over the next few days”.
In Shepparton, a town about two hours from Melbourne, 4,000 homes could be flooded by early next week, Wiebusch said.
– “Dirty and danger” –
The Commissioner for Emergency Management, Andrew Crisp, has announced that the Australian military is deploying to parts of Victoria state to assist residents who are erecting sandbag dams to prevent the water does not enter their homes.
He spoke of a “major emergency for the state of Victoria”.
A disused Covid-19 quarantine center, able to accommodate a thousand people, will be opened for residents forced to leave their homes.
Northern Tasmania, an island state located south of Victoria, was also preparing for major flooding on Friday.
Mass evacuation orders were issued and some 120 roads were closed due to heavy rains.
“The floods are putting lives at risk,” the Tasmanian State Emergency Service said in a statement.
Third Australian state to be directly affected by this heavy rainfall, New South Wales, the most populous in Australia, where the water level could increase on Friday.
A center has been set up for evacuees after heavy rainfall on Thursday evening in Forbes, a town about five hours drive east of Sydney.
In March, the eastern coast of the mainland island was hit hard by severe flooding, which claimed 20 lives, following several extreme weather events.
Thousands of Sydney residents were forced from their homes in July following heavy rains.
Australia is on the frontline of the consequences of climate change, with floods, bushfires, cyclones and droughts becoming more frequent and intense as the planet heats up, scientists warn.
