SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albany on Sunday visited flood-hit areas in Victoria state, including the city of Melbourne, as the three southeastern states grappled with flooding after days of heavy rain.
Parts of Victoria, southern New South Wales and northern Tasmania were under flood warnings after a weather system dumped more than a month of rain across the southeast last week.
The crisis comes after Australia’s eastern states were hit by severe flooding in early 2022 as the country endured its third consecutive La Niña weather event, bringing heavy rains.
“Australians are coming together, they’re helping each other and once again we’re seeing the best of Australia, in the worst of times,” Albany said in Melbourne, where A major flood cleanup was underway.
Earlier, the Prime Minister visited the flood-affected areas of regional Victoria along with State Premier Daniel Andrews.
Albany said an “extremely severe weather event” was affecting urban and regional communities and that 60 Australian Defense Force personnel were assisting with evacuations and sand removal.
It announced an emergency payment of A$1000 ($620) for Victorians who were seriously injured or had their homes seriously damaged or destroyed.
In Victoria, where the flooding was worst, the focus remained in the north, particularly in the city of Shepparton, where thousands of residents were told it was too late to evacuate after the waters rose.
Footage on social media showed Shepparton residents kayaking through flooded streets, with large parts of the city inundated.
In Melbourne, thousands of residents evacuated after the Maribyrnong River burst its banks on Friday, inundating suburbs near the central business district.
A controversial flood wall saved Melbourne’s famous Flemington Racecourse from inundation but some have blamed it for worsening flooding in nearby residential areas.
Victoria State Emergency Service chief operations officer Tim Wiebish said the state was facing “blue sky flooding”, with heavy rains having passed.
Victorian authorities on Saturday reported the first emergency flood death after the body of a man was found in floodwaters in Rochester, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Melbourne.
Across the border in New South Wales, 74 warnings were in place on Sunday, with authorities particularly concerned about flooding in the inland towns of Forbes, Narranda and Moama.
In Tasmania, 22 flood warnings were in place, most of them near Launceston, the island state’s second largest city.
