The extreme weather in parts of Australia with severe storms and devastating floods continues. Several towns in the Kimberley region in the northwest of the country are particularly affected.
It could be weeks before the Fitzroy Crossing site and some 50 outback communities populated by Indigenous people are again accessible by land, Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said on Australian radio. The authorities had previously spoken of a flood of the century in the region. The government will send in the military to help residents, Watt announced.
A storm, more than 200,000 lightning bolts
The Western Australia government has now set up two evacuation centers for those affected. The military will help fly people in need to the city of Broome, Watt said. Because of the extremely high water level, the electricity was shut off in the entire area as a precaution, the broadcaster ABC reported, citing the operator Horizon Power. However, reports of extreme weather phenomena are also coming from other parts of the country.
For example, there was a violent storm in Queensland on the east coast at night, with more than 200,000 lightning bolts, according to Australian media reports. The broadcaster 9News spoke of a “spectacular light show” – but with consequences: Thousands of people north of Brisbane had no electricity today.
Bushfires get out of control
In the southwest of the state of Western Australia, on the other hand, people were fleeing a bush fire. The flames raged about 220 kilometers south of the city of Perth in towns around Newlands. Authorities warned the fire was “unpredictable and out of control”.
Australia is particularly suffering from the consequences of climate change. A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from February 2022 assumes that the country will be hit even more frequently by devastating natural events in the future.
