On Tuesday found two people dead near a park in the city of Townsville, reports the BBC. The city has in the last ten days received more than a meter of rain – which is about as much precipitation that the region receives in a year.
More than 1,100 residents in Townsville have been evacuated, and then on Sunday, 19 people have been rescued from places where they had been isolated by rain water. Among other things, two police officers climbed up in a tree since their vehicles swept away by water.
working with the rescue operations from small boats that they are looking for through it the flood-affected area.
On Tuesday, Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, visited the Townsville and at the same time the water from the floods to a certain extent, begun to fall away.
“I know that we have confirmed two dead in the day, but at the same time are evacuations carried out an extraordinary effort,” says Scott Morrison.
the Prime minister also stated that the authorities will help the residents of Townsville with food, water and other supplies.
– It is a large städprojekt. It will be a lot of work, but it is a strong society, ” says Scott Morrison.
at the same time warns the local authorities for more heavy rainfall could affect the vulnerable area in the coming days.
Image 1 of 2 A photo shows the flooding in Townsville on 3 February. Photo: Queensland Fire and Emergency Service/AFP Slide 2 of 2 Australian arméfordon in Townsville to help with the evaukeringen of the inhabitants. Photo: STR/AFP Slideshow
reached their peak during Sunday. A pond near the town, Ross Rive Dam, had reached 245 percent of its capacity and the authorities were forced to drop out of 1.900 cubic metres of water a second, it that the dam would not collapse.
Queensland’s prime minister, the state where Townsville is, Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Monday that the floodgates had to be opened to ”make sure that the water had nowhere to go”, reports The Guardian.
the Decision to open the dam, according to The Guardian, from a study made in year 2012. Then claimed that the amount of rain that is now affecting the area was a scenario that would occur once in a thousand years.
now, the criticism against the authorities for letting such large amounts of water built up in the pond, rather than having to continuously empty it during the heavy rains.
” the Fact that they are not opened in the dam gradually throughout the rainy season, and now they are celebrating when they should be in panikläge. We were not only flooded by the rain, we got flooded when the water was released, ” says Leah Kim, who lives in a fortort to Townsville to The Guardian.
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