Three people were killed in floodwaters from a strong storm that pounded Australia’s east coast over the weekend, with heavy rains and huge ocean swells forcing some coastal residents to flee their homes and sending a swimming pool sliding into the sea.
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“It’s insane,” Cara Blackham told Network Ten. “It’s just mind-blowing watching the waves come up yesterday. It was just out of control.”
The body of a 65-year-old man was found in a car on Monday in a creek near the town of Bowral, about 120 kilometers south of Sydney. The body of another man was found in a truck washed away by floodwaters in the southwest Sydney suburb of Leppington, New South Wales state police said.
In the nation’s capital, Canberra, a 37-year-old man died after powerful floodwaters flipped his truck and swept it away.
“A male person was located in his vehicle, stuck in the middle of raging floodwaters in the Cotter River,” said Detective Sergeant Harry Hains of the Australian Capital Territory Police.
“During the course of trying to ascertain a safe method to extract that male, the vehicle has shifted and the male has disappeared from view along with the vehicle,” said Hains. “A search was then undertaken and a short time later, police, along with emergency services, ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Fire and Rescue, located what we believe to be a body stuck in raging floodwaters on an island in the middle of the river.”
A swimming pool at one seaside home in north Sydney collapsed and fell into the sands below as the storm whipped up waves as high as 12 meters, which caused severe beach erosion. Hundreds of coastal residents to were forced to evacuate.
“It was like a mini-tsunami I guess,” said Collaroy resident Zaza Silk.
“So, 13-metre waves sitting on top of a king tide over two nights and we’ve seen a lot of sand erosion,” added Turner.
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Silk claimed local council prevented homeowners from building protective seawalls, which she believes was the reason for the extent of the destruction.
“I hope you feel really good about yourself and that you can sleep well at night knowing that we have buildings that we can probably never go back into,” Silk said.
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The massive waves were also blamed for destroying several businesses along the shoreline.
“The seawall has been taken away, and its taken out the top balcony which has knocked out one of our biggest assets in the club,” said Collaroy Beach Club CEO Rob McConnell.
Shop owners further south were also left surveying the damage Monday morning.
“The waves were coming over the wall and then just literally through the top window and then just pounding the restaurant,” described restaurant owner Hartmut Schacker. “The whole front was was ripped out.”
The storm knocked out power to more than 85,000 homes and businesses over the weekend. Nearly 300 people needed to be rescued from flooded areas across New South Wales, the state emergency services agency said. Many of those people had attempted to drive or walk across flooded roads.
With files from The Associated Press.
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