Disaster declared in flood-hit Australia

Australian authorities declared a natural disaster along parts of the country’s east coast on Saturday as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding thousands of people.

Torrential rain soaked the Coffs Harbour region north of Sydney overnight, swamping the arterial Pacific Highway with flash floodwaters that isolated almost 5,000 people, emergency officials said.

About 40 people had to be evacuated from the area hit by the raging floods and New South Wales emergency services minister Steve Whan declared a natural disaster, releasing state funds.

More than 500 millimetres (20 inches) of rain had fallen in the past two days, Whan said, in the fifth major flooding incident to hit the region this year.

“I guess one of the things we’ve seen predicted from climate change consistently is that the rain and the weather events will come in more storms and more short-term deluges,” he said. READ MORE…

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