Australian emergency services have ordered some 200,000 people to evacuate their homes due to heavy rain, which was heading towards Sydney on Thursday after killing 13 across the rest of the country.
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Authorities have issued a weather warning for heavy rain and strong winds targeting a 400 kilometer strip stretching along Australia’s east coast, including the suburbs of Sydney, the country’s largest city (5 million ‘inhabitants).
For more than a week, torrential rains have ravaged the east coast, between the states of Queensland and New South Wales. In the latter, authorities on Thursday ordered around 200,000 people to evacuate, and asked another 300,000 to prepare to receive a similar order soon.
“A lot of people woke up this morning to find much of their state under water,” said New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet. “If you are subject to one of these evacuation orders, please leave,” he implored at a press conference.
State Emergency Services Chief Carlene York has warned of a “hard to predict” weather event that could prove dangerous in Sydney and its surrounding areas.
The Warragamba dam, southwest of Sydney, which supplies 80% of the drinking water consumed in the metropolis, is at maximum capacity and has been discharging water since Wednesday morning, which has caused the level of the waters in several areas of the city. As of Thursday morning, Windsor Bridge in Sydney’s west was almost completely submerged in muddy waters.
According to Dean Narramore, a meteorologist in New South Wales, between 50 and 150 mm of rain could fall on Sydney over the next few hours. “This could lead to flash floods that are dangerous and potentially life-threatening,” he warned.
Australia has been hit hard in recent years by climate change: droughts, deadly bushfires, Great Barrier Reef bleaching episodes and floods are becoming more frequent and intense.
“Australia is on the front line of severe climate change,” said Hilary Bambrick, an environmental expert at Queensland University of Technology. “Temperatures are rising faster in Australia than on average globally, and higher temperatures mean the atmosphere holds more moisture, and therefore rain events become more extreme,” she explained.