Storm low “Alfred” has parts of Australia sink into dangerous floods. Many people were without electricity at the weekend. The tropical storm has lost strength. But that's not good news.
Storm low “Alfred” triggered heavy rain on the Australian east coast and caused severe floods. The metropolis of Brisbane alone got almost as much precipitation within two hours as in a complete month – there were entire streets under water in some quarters. Some cars only saw the roof edge.
In the Hervey Bay region, it rained as heavily as last in 1955. In some areas of the state of Queensland, a total of more than 900 liters of rain per square meter brought the week. For comparison: around 580 liters usually fall in Berlin – per year. In addition, there were strong gusts of wind at speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour that whipped high waves on land. Popular sandy beaches on the Gold Coast were destroyed by tourists.
Weather service warns of water masses
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese directed urgent warnings to his compatriots and spoke of a “very serious weather event” that does not allow recklessness. Everyone has to get to safety. The state weather service warned, especially in the southeast of Queensland, of life -threatening floods. In around 450,000 households and shops in Queensland and the state of New South Wales adjacent south, the electricity failed over the weekend.
Thousands of rescue workers, volunteers and soldiers were deployed to save people from their cars sinking in the water, to clear up the uprooted trees from streets and to recover overturned electricity pylons.
Storm low recently lost strength
“Alfred” was originally raised as a cyclone off Australia's east coast. However, the vertebral storm lost strength and was downgraded to the tropical low pressure area before he hit land on Saturday evening (local time) northeast of Brisbane.
The fact that “Alfred” only moves slowly is not necessarily an advantage: Because the clouds that are soaked with water are raining longer at the same place, the potential damage is all the greater, emphasized meteorologist Christine Johnston in the broadcaster ABC.
Schools, supermarkets and airports closed
The authorities had asked thousands of residents of the densely populated region to clear the worst swaths of the storm in advance. Schools, supermarkets and airports were closed and hundreds of thousands of sandbags were distributed to secure houses and shops. The precautionary measures seemed to help mostly: So far there is talk of a dead man. It was probably a driver who got into a river with his car and was carried away.
The storm also has a political grade: According to the usual names, the cyclone should have been called “Anthony”. However, since parliamentary elections are pending in Australia and the Social Democrat Anthony Albanese has to worry about his re -election, the vertebral storm was ultimately not missed the first name of the premier. Instead, they opted for “Alfred”.
