One person died and ten others were missing on Wednesday February 23 after heavy rains battered eastern Australia, causing flash flooding and a series of emergency alerts along the Pacific coast.
The body of a 60-year-old was found in a submerged car in Queensland state early on Wednesday, the province's premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament, calling the incident a
"tragedy"
.
Ten people are also missing, according to local police quoted in local media.
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Nearly 50cm of rain fell in parts of the state in the past 24 hours, causing multiple road closures and transportation chaos.
Emergency services received more than 100 calls for help and swift water rescue teams were dispatched to rescue dozens of stranded residents.
A freight train overturned near the Queensland town of Gympie, but the driver was only slightly injured.
Fifteen dams in Queensland are at capacity and further rains are expected in the coming days.
“Intense local rainfall is possible and, as many catchments are now saturated, there is an increased risk of dangerous and deadly flash floods over the next few days
,” Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Police advised motorists to avoid driving on flooded roads and to stay at home.
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Heavy rain also fell in the state of New South Wales, where parts of Sydney were briefly submerged on Tuesday.
After several years of drought and bushfires exacerbated by climate change, eastern Australia experienced an extraordinarily wet summer, due to La Nina, a climatic phenomenon originating from a thermal anomaly of the equatorial surface waters of the Pacific Ocean.
La Nina increases the risk of tropical cyclones off Australia's Pacific coast and brings above-average rainfall, according to the country's Bureau of Meteorology.