The Government of Australia ordered this Monday the deployment of up to 150 soldiers to help with emergency tasks and evacuations in several towns that have been isolated in the extreme northeast, as a result of the floods after the passing of the week. passing of Cyclone Jasper.
In addition, the government will send emergency helicopters to “evacuate isolated residents,” Australian Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said in a message on X (formerly Twitter).
The torrential rains that have been falling for five days and intensified the day before, have hit hard the towns between the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal and the city of Port Douglas, located north of the city of Cairns, which is one of the main access points to the Great Barrier Reef.
The images published today by various Australian media show how the streets of the towns affected by this meteorological catastrophe have turned into rivers of muddy water, downed trees, people trapped on roofs, submerged cars and planes, bridges destroyed by floods and the rescue of residents in boats.
So far at least 300 people have been rescued in what was an “extraordinarily difficult night,” police commissioner of the northeastern state of Queensland, Katarina Carroll, told reporters in the city of Brisbane, recalling that there were no seen a similar catastrophe since 1977.
Queensland authorities hope to transfer about 270 residents of the remote community of Wujal Wujal to the city of Cooktown, where – as in the town of Ingham – sightings of crocodiles have been reported near residential areas on a day in the That Expect the heavy rains to continue.
Likewise, in the tourist city of Cairns, where the storm is expected to subside this afternoon, flights have been canceled or delayed as a result of the cleaning and debris removal work on the runway after the passage of Cyclone Jasper.
The cyclone, which made landfall on Wednesday as a category 2 near Wujal Wujal, lost strength as soon as it touched Australian territory, becoming a storm.
Although powerful cyclones are not common in Australia, from time to time one hits the north of the oceanic country, such as the category five Cyclone Yasi, which devastated the northeastern state of Queensland in February 2011, and left one dead and extensive damage.
EFE
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