Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 3: As Sydney, the nation’s largest city was pummeling by torrential rain and its surroundings were overwhelmed by floodwaters, thousands of Australians were given the order to leave their homes on Sunday.
Authorities reported that at least 18 evacuation orders were in effect in western Sydney, a region that was devastated by heavy flooding in March, and that roads throughout the city were shut off.
“This is a life-threatening emergency situation,” Stephanie Cooke, emergency services minister for the state of New South Wales, told to the reporters.
With droughts, fatal bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, and floods growing more frequent and severe as global weather patterns shift, Australia has been at the front lines of climate change.
Cooke said that the situation with the floods was rapidly shifting and advised residents to be prepared to evacuate at short notice since more inclement weather was predicted for the upcoming days.
She claimed that the Warragamba Dam in the city started to leak early on Sunday, far earlier than anticipated by the authorities.
Local stores and a gas station were submerged by floodwaters whereas Camden, a suburb of Sydney in the southwest with a population of more than 100,000, was spared.
In the last 24 hours, emergency personnel responded to more than 1,400 calls and performed 29 flood rescues, according to her.
Twenty people died in the east coast flooding incident in March, which was brought on by powerful storms that wreaked havoc in Sydney’s west.
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