Overstromingen oostkust Australië

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Meerdere steden aan de Australische oostkust zijn vandaag tot rampgebied uitgeroepen na overstromingen. Duizenden mensen zaten vast, honderden anderen moesten worden geëvacueerd.

Ruim tweeduizend mensen konden hun huis niet verlaten of brachten de nacht noodgedwongen door in scholen en restaurants. De plotselinge wateroverlast trof Coffs Harbour, bijna zeshonderd kilometer ten noorden van Sydney, en omliggende plaatsen. Binnen een etmaal was in de getroffen regio 450 millimeter regen gevallen.

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FLOODED areas of the NSW mid-north coast braced for a new surge of rising waters tonight as high tides threatened to back up rivers around seaside communities.

Thousands of residents of small towns along the Bellinger River remained isolated today after days of drenching rain caused flash flooding, soaking homes and businesses, scattering livestock and cutting off roads.

A spokeswoman for the SES said coastal communities were not in the clear yet.

"There is a potential for further localised flash flooding, just because of the saturation level and the fact that we are getting the storms on the far north coast and the mid-north coast this afternoon," she said.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan visited flooded communities today, declaring the local government areas of Coffs Harbour, Nambucca and Bellingen natural disaster zones.

Bellingen, Darkwood, Thora, and the Kalang Valley are still cut off by flood waters and expected to remain so for a further two to four days.

Aircraft dropped supplies to cut off farms and townships, including 200 litres of diesel fuel for generators at the Bellengen Hospital. Over 300 SES volunteers worked to respond more than 750 requests for assistance from residents and business owners.

Coff Harbour Mayor Keith Rhoades said locals had no chance of escaping the flood waters. About 100 homes and businesses were affected, with 420 people evacuated, including 300 school children and residents of aged care facilities.

"They all told me that you actually stood there and saw it coming, and there wasn't a thing you could do about it - that's how quick it was," Mr Rhoades said.

Urunga resident Michael Bradbury was terrified as the flood waters crept up the walls of his Nerong Court apartment on Tuesday night.

"I feared for my life, the rain was just so relentless," he said, hands still shaking. "It had a force of its own."

Returning from a swim to a submerged car in Urunga's town centre Corey, 15, Hayden, 13, and Isabella Underhall, 12, said they had spent the day practising their strokes in flooded streets and checking out the damage.

"It's a copper's car which makes it even funnier," Corey said. "My dad's a police officer and our house was full of other police who were washed out of their homes last night."

Coffs Harbour business owners started the painstaking job of cleaning the mud out of their shops yesterday after knee high water retreated from the CBD overnight. At Gundagai Place rows of villas were ruined as a nearby creek rose beyond its banks into their backyards.

After taking one look at her home at the Green Gardens village, Susan Carruthers turned her car around to face the cleanup another day.

"Welcome to Willy Wonker's Chocolate Factory," she said. "It is like melted chocolate in the bath."

At a block of apartments in Granton St floods swept away thousands of dollars worth of antique furniture stored in garages and three cars and their carports disappeared down Coffs Creek.

One man swam 20m through the swirling waters to where his wife could pull him through the window of their second storey balcony.

Adele Moon of Bellengen Quays, near Urunga, said the fire brigade had warned her suburb to evacuate before the onset of 1.9m tides at "three o'clock" which could combine with flood waters to inundate homes in the area.

"We moved our cars to a friends place on top of the hill, removed our photographs, momentoes and computer and got the kayaks out," Ms Moon said. "Then we realised the tide he was referring to would more likely happen at 3am, so we came back."

Residents were warned to wash their hands and flood affected materials and avoid contact between cuts and abrasions with water potentially contaminated with sewage.