AFP – People stand near flood waters next to the Winsome Hotel, which remained open for patrons, in Lismore, …
SYDNEY (AFP) – A man died when his car was swamped by raging floodwaters in northeastern Australia, where tens of thousands of homes have been cut off by wild weather, according to officials.
The 70-year-old's body was found near his submerged vehicle around midnight at Coffs Harbour, 540 kilometres (340 miles) north of Sydney, police said, bringing the death toll caused by the floods to two.
Emergency services estimated 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has left two Australian states as disaster zones and forced widespread evacuations.
Freak winds flung a sheet of metal through an office block window killing a 46-year-old man Wednesday on Queensland's Gold Coast tourist strip, while torrential rains deluged coastal towns.
"We could be talking weeks of inundation for some areas, if not longer," an emergency service spokesman told the AAP newswire.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would visit affected areas next week, and offered his condolences to the family of the storm's latest victim.
The extreme weather was easing but there was a risk of further flash-floods, while ocean swells of up to ten metres were pounding the coast, the weather bureau said.
"Rainfall totals today are not expected to be as high as those recorded over the last couple of days, and will continue in a decreasing trend," it said.
"However rain will still be locally heavy at times today and as a result may still produce flash flooding and exacerbate existing river flooding."
It is the third time in recent months that some towns have been swamped, with the situation in Queensland the worst in more than three decades.
Floods unleashed by cyclonic rains in February saw much of the state declared a disaster area, with more than one million square kilometres (385,000 square miles) deluged and 3,000 homes damaged.
Further floods hammered the region last month, washing a number of motorists to their death and claiming the life of a 12-year-old girl who was swimming in a swollen weir.
The floods follow a once-in-a-century heatwave in southeastern Australia, in which more than 2,000 homes were razed by major wildfires and 173 people died.
Meteorologists have warned the extreme temperatures and downpours -- a common feature of Australian summers -- would only increase as a result of climate change.
The 70-year-old's body was found near his submerged vehicle around midnight at Coffs Harbour, 540 kilometres (340 miles) north of Sydney, police said, bringing the death toll caused by the floods to two.
Emergency services estimated 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has left two Australian states as disaster zones and forced widespread evacuations.
Freak winds flung a sheet of metal through an office block window killing a 46-year-old man Wednesday on Queensland's Gold Coast tourist strip, while torrential rains deluged coastal towns.
"We could be talking weeks of inundation for some areas, if not longer," an emergency service spokesman told the AAP newswire.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would visit affected areas next week, and offered his condolences to the family of the storm's latest victim.
The extreme weather was easing but there was a risk of further flash-floods, while ocean swells of up to ten metres were pounding the coast, the weather bureau said.
"Rainfall totals today are not expected to be as high as those recorded over the last couple of days, and will continue in a decreasing trend," it said.
"However rain will still be locally heavy at times today and as a result may still produce flash flooding and exacerbate existing river flooding."
It is the third time in recent months that some towns have been swamped, with the situation in Queensland the worst in more than three decades.
Floods unleashed by cyclonic rains in February saw much of the state declared a disaster area, with more than one million square kilometres (385,000 square miles) deluged and 3,000 homes damaged.
Further floods hammered the region last month, washing a number of motorists to their death and claiming the life of a 12-year-old girl who was swimming in a swollen weir.
The floods follow a once-in-a-century heatwave in southeastern Australia, in which more than 2,000 homes were razed by major wildfires and 173 people died.
Meteorologists have warned the extreme temperatures and downpours -- a common feature of Australian summers -- would only increase as a result of climate change.
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