On Wednesday, floodwaters threatened the homes of 85,000 people in Sydney. As rivers began to recede and heavy rains tracked north of Australia’s largest city.
While the rain had stopped in Sydney, several waterways, including the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system on the city’s northern and western outskirts. It remained at major flood levels, according to Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke.
Emergency responders knocked on doors overnight in the Hunter Valley towns of Singleton and Muswellbrook, north of Sydney, to order residents to evacuate, she said.
New South Wales state Premier Dominic Perrottet said 85,000 people had been given evacuation orders. Officials warned to prepare to leave their homes by Wednesday, up from 50,000 on Tuesday.
Perrottet warned on the fifth day of the flood emergency that homes that had remained dry during previous floods could be inundated this week. “This is far from over.” “Please don’t let your past experience influence your current behavior,” Perrottet advised.
Fourth major flood event in Sydney: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that federal funds would be available to flood victims. It begins on Thursday, less than two days after a disaster was declared in 23 local government areas.
Albanese stated that it’s the fourth major flood event in Sydney. And its environs since March last year, which followed devastating wildfires in the same region during the 2019-2020 Southern Hemisphere summer.
This demonstrated the need for climate action. “We are considering long-term solutions.” “From the beginning, my government has shifted Australia’s position on climate change,” he said.
Albanese’s center-left Labor Party was elected in May. Thus, promising of reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. The previous conservative government promised a reduction of between 26% and 28%.
The government will propose spending 4.8 billion Australian dollars (US$3.3 billion) on disaster mitigation measures. They are such as building higher river levees when Parliament reconvenes on July 26 for the first time since the election, according to Albanese.
The cargo ship Portland Bay, registered in Hong Kong. It was towed into Sydney’s Port Botany on Wednesday after its engine failed near the coast further south on Monday in mountainous seas and strong winds. Transport Minister Catherine King thanked the tugboat and rescue crews.
Therefore, the ship was in grave danger of being wrecked on the coast. Hence, endangering the lives of the 21 crew members on board and causing an environmental disaster.
