Eastern Australia continues to experience the effects of a devastating storm. At least seven people died, and rescuers continued their operations on Wednesday, December 27, in search of the missing.
The deceased victims, including a nine-year-old girl, are located in the provinces of Queensland (North-East) and Victoria (South-East), affected since Monday by storms and violent winds, causing tree falls and flash floods.
A boat with eleven people on board capsized near Brisbane, causing the death of two individuals by drowning, said police, who are looking for one last member of the crew, who is missing. “The last 24 hours have been tragic due to the weather,” Queensland Police Chief Katarina Carroll told reporters.
Women caught in a drain
Rescuers have “serious concerns” about a 46-year-old woman who was sucked into a storm drain in Gympie on Tuesday and has not been found. Of the two other women caught with her, one survived and the other died.
Regional Queensland remains at risk of “dangerous” thunderstorms, “life-threatening” flooding, “giant” hailstones and “destructive” wind gusts, the Australian Weather Service has warned.
More than 80,000 homes remain without power, said regional electricity supplier Energex, which on Tuesday deplored more than 120,000 customers affected by the outage.
“How bad was the storm? Strong enough to destroy several concrete poles supporting high voltage lines,” the company described on social media.