Photo by Dan Peled/Getty Images
Australia’s north-east has been drenched by a torrent of heavy rainfall over the last few days. So far, the flooding has claimed the lives of nine people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others across Queensland, and NSW. In Brisbane alone on Monday, about 1,400 homes were described by authorities as at risk, while more than 1,000 across the state had been evacuated and some 34,000 homes were stranded without power over the weekend. Later that night, Lismore, a rural city centre that sits just south of the Queensland border, had become a disaster zone, home to floodwaters at least 15 metres deep. Come Tuesday, and imagery coming out of northern NSW had only become more dystopian. Lismore’s famous McDonald’s, which towers close to 20 metres above the road, could only be made out in photos by its tallest signpost. According to reporters on the ground, hundreds of locals remain unaccounted for, some feared to be trapped in their roof cavities, while others have jumped aboard kayaks and tinnies to help out their neighbours. Now, residents of the state’s south, close to Sydney, fear for what’s to come as the weather heads their way.
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