Australia still feeling effects ex-tropical cyclone Oswald

Moving down the coast of New South Wales,
extreme weather conditions are still causing misery in eastern Australia.

Two thousand, five hundred people have been evacuated in the New South Wales city of Grafton and more than 1,000 people have been rescued by helicopter across neighbouring state Queensland, with the city of Bundaberg experiencing severe flooding.

“Well, this is the flood record for Grafton. It has never been in recorded history this high,” said Commissioner Murray Kear from the State Emergency Service.

“I think you’d have to go back to the 1890s to actually get a flood that’s around a 7.7 metre mark. So now nearly 8.1 is the largest flood that Grafton has ever seen,” he added.

The extreme weather system across eastern Australia is caused by the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswald which began in the Gulf of Carpentaria near northern Australia 11 days ago.

This time, flooding is not as bad as it was in 2010-2011, when 35 people lost their lives and 30,000 properties were destroyed or damaged.

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