Yahoo News 24 May 09;
SYDNEY (AFP) – Thousands of homeowners remained isolated in Australia's flood-hit northeast Sunday, where authorities said days of torrential rain had created a vast "inland sea".
Swollen rivers peaked overnight, allowing clean-up operations to begin and evacuated residents to return to the northern New South Wales towns of Grafton and Kempsey, the State Emergency Service (SES) said.
But SES spokesman Greg Slater said up to 20,000 people in small communities remained cut off by the floodwaters, which have led to disaster declarations in NSW and neighbouring Queensland.
"We're concentrating our efforts on those communities in terms of resupply and provision of immediate medical assistance and medical supplies, also just the basic necessities, foodstuff and the like," he told Sky News.
Two people have died in the floods, which dumped one-third of southeast Queensland's average annual rainfall in just 24 hours.
NSW Premier Nathan Rees flew over the affected area Sunday and said it was difficult to grasp the extent of the floods, even from the air.
"It's an inland sea, and you see the (animal) stocks that are isolated and the towns that are isolated and you wonder where it's all going to go," he told reporters.
Rees appointed former police commissioner Ken Maroney to coordinate clean-up in the northern NSW region, which has been hit by three major floods since February.
"This will be a large-scale recovery effort to help restore the region," he said.
Clarence Valley mayor Richie Williamson said flood mitigation measures in most major towns withstood the rising waters overnight.
"Things are starting to get back to normal thankfully," he said.
"Last night it was touch and go as the peak arrived at Maclean. Thankfully the levee wasn't overtopped there. Things are also okay in Yamba as well, albeit very, very wet."
Floods unleashed by cyclonic rains in February saw much of Queensland declared a disaster area, with more than one million square kilometres (385,000 square miles) deluged and 3,000 homes damaged.
Further floods hammered the region last month, washing a number of motorists to their death and claiming the life of a 12-year-old girl who was swimming in a swollen weir.
The floods follow a once-in-a-century heatwave in southeastern Australia, in which more than 2,000 homes were razed by major wildfires and 173 people died.
Meteorologists have warned the extreme temperatures and downpours -- a common feature of Australian summers -- would only increase as a result of climate change.
Thousands evacuate Australian floods, one dead
Reuters 23 May 09;
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands more people in Australia's flood-hit east were told to leave their homes on Saturday as gale-force winds lashed the coast and emergency services said up to 20,000 people had been cut off.
One man has died and dozens have been rescued from rising waters after days of rain and cyclonic winds left thousands of hectares of northern New South Wales state under water.
Over the past few days floodwaters have washed cars into the sea and huge waves have pounded major ports, including the world's biggest coal export port at Newcastle, where ship movements were disrupted.
Floodwaters have engulfed homes, and beaches all along the state's northern coast have been shut as they were lashed by winds of up to 80 kph (50 mph). Several swollen rivers have burst their banks.
"There would be thousands of hectares of the coastal plains under water at the moment," said a spokesman for the State Emergency Service. "We have got seven or eight rivers involved at the moment."
A 70-year-old man cut off by floodwaters was found dead in his car on Saturday after rescuers were unable to reach him, emergency officials said. More than 30 other people have been rescued, some by helicopter.
Emergency officials estimated that 16,000-20,000 people had been cut off by the floodwaters, which were expected to peak overnight.
Evacuation orders for five more communities were issued on Saturday, including around 2,000 in the town of Kempsey, 350 km (220 miles) north of Sydney, after residents were ordered out of two other towns earlier.
Natural disasters have been declared in seven areas, unlocking government aid, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has pledged support.
