(Sydney) Entire buildings have been swept away by flash floods in a small town on Australia’s east coast after a destructive “wall of water” fell, authorities said on Wednesday.
The town of Eugowra, about 350 kilometers west of Sydney, was swamped by floodwaters on Monday, but difficult damage assessment was not immediately possible due to muddy waters.
The east coast of Australia has been repeatedly hit by downpours over the past two years, driven by back-to-back cycles of the La Nina phenomenon.
New South Wales state emergency services spokesman Steve Hall said a dire picture is emerging as relief efforts arrive in the town of some 800 people.
“Everything dear to them was washed away by a wall of water,” he said.
The inhabitants took refuge on the roofs on Monday evening, before being airlifted by the emergency services.
Constituency MP Andrew Gee said Eugowra is “strewn” with washed-away cars and some buildings have been “ripped from their foundations and swept into the streets”.
“Residents are talking about a tsunami that hit them,” he told Australian broadcaster ABC.
The Wyangala dam burst its banks overnight Sunday into Monday following heavy rains, dumping some 230,000 megalitres into catchments near Eugowra.
The town of Forbes, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Eugowra, was evacuated due to rising waters.
In March, already, catastrophic floods on the east coast had killed more than twenty people.
Tens of thousands of Sydney residents had been ordered to evacuate in July when flooding again hit the outskirts of the city.
Scientists believe that climate change could make periods of flooding more extreme, as warmer air holds more moisture.