Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited some areas affected by the floods on Sunday, in which at least one person has died, and announced financial aid for the victims.
“In times of crisis, Australians want all levels of government to work together, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Albanese, who traveled to floodplains in the southeastern state of Victoria, said on Twitter.
Albanese, accompanied by the head of the Government of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, flew by helicopter over some affected areas and also the emergency center.
Authorities announced Saturday that a 71-year-old person had died from flash flooding in Rochester, a town north of Melbourne.
“Financial aid is available for 44 local areas affected by the floods in NGS (New South Wales), Victoria and Tasmania,” said the Australian president.
According to a government statement, the aid consists of 1,000 Australian dollars (about 619 dollars or 637 euros) for each adult and 400 Australian dollars (247 dollars or 255 euros) for each minor, while they have enabled evacuation centers and deployed to soldiers.
In recent days, torrential rains coupled with strong winds have flooded several roads, toppled trees and left thousands of homes without power.
The powerful storm affects the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, where authorities have issued alerts to the danger of overflowing rivers and lakes and have ordered localized evacuations.
The east coast of Australia, which is suffering the impact for the third consecutive year of the La Niña phenomenon, which causes more rainy conditions than usual in this part of the planet, was the scene of two strong floods since January that caused the death of twenty people. millionaire people and material damage.
According to scientists, extreme weather events in Australia, including fires, floods and droughts, are caused in part by climate change.