Sidney, Europe Brief News- Western Australia has been experiencing heavy rains, leaving hundreds of people in need of evacuation.
An emergency services minister said it was “the worst flooding Western Australia has had in its history”.
The crisis in the Kimberley region started last week after the severe weather system Ellie, a former tropical cyclone, brought heavy rain.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the rainfall over Brisbane had been extraordinary since November when authorities were considering water use restrictions due to a shortage.
State premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, “we never expected this rain. The heavy rains bomb is just really, you know, it’s unrelenting … It’s just coming down in buckets.”
More than 100 schools across the southeast of a state famed for abundant sunshine will be closed on Monday. State rescue services said they received 100 requests an hour for help in recent days.
The risk of riverine and flash flooding was “very real over coming days,” said Steph Cooke, the state’s emergency services minister. Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the floods are “very different” to 2011 because the rain pummeled the region for five days.
In 2011, the rain had stopped days before the Brisbane River peaked and authorities had warned for several days of flooding downstream.
