Tens of thousands of Australians were yesterday ordered to flee their homes, as torrential rain sent floodwaters to record levels, leaving residents stranded on the rooftops of their homes.
Eight people have died, and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has said that further severe thunderstorms and intense rainfall would cause “life-threatening flash flooding” across a swathe of the central Pacific coastal region.
In the rural town of Lismore, New South Wales (NSW), resident Danika Hardiman woke yesterday morning to find that mud-brown floodwaters had reached the balcony of her second-floor apartment.
She and her partner managed to climb up to the roof, where