(Cairns) More than 200 people were evacuated overnight from Sunday to Monday in northeastern Australia after heavy flooding cut roads and pushed crocodiles towards towns.
The state of Queensland is being hit by strong winds and torrential rain after a tropical cyclone, and Australian army helicopters have been sent to rescue residents from flooded areas.
At least 200 people were evacuated by rescue teams overnight from Sunday to Monday according to police, while further rain was expected during the day on Monday.
Nine people, including a seven-year-old patient, took refuge on the roof of a hospital in Wujal Wujal, a village populated largely by aborigines on the northeastern tip of the island continent.
“We know these people are in a desperate situation,” said Kiley Hanslow, a local official.
The village of 300 inhabitants is now “a sea of dirty water and mud”, added Mme Kiley.
Crocodiles, pushed back by the floods, have also been spotted in Wujal Wujal and in several surrounding towns.
The Queensland Department of Environment and Science said a 2.5 meter reptile was captured and removed after residents of Ingham reported it to authorities.
Cairns, a city of 150,000, was almost surrounded by floodwaters, which poured onto major highways leading to this major tourist center near the Great Barrier Reef, and submerged its airport.
“This level of rainfall is unprecedented,” Queensland Premier Steven Miles told reporters on Monday.
“We literally deployed every boat we could find to Cairns to evacuate people who couldn’t do it themselves,” he added.