Western Australia Deals With Serious Flooding

 

As muddy floods withdrew to reveal the full extent of recent damage to houses, roads, and animals, it became clear that the flood-affected areas of Western Australia had a long road to recovery.

Over the past week, floodwaters in the flooded town of Fitzroy Crossing, which has a population of around 1,000, have destroyed homes, washed away road surfaces, and demolished the major bridge.

The floods submerged much of Fitzroy Crossing and the Indigenous settlements in the sparsely populated area, creating a sizable inland lake in the northern part of Western Australia.

According to public broadcaster ABC, the state's housing minister, John Carey, said on Wednesday, "I don't want to sugar-coat the task that lies ahead in terms of both housing and road building."

"We must provide housing for folks."

The Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen's Association estimates that numerous large farms in the region have lost thousands of cattle.

State Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis warned on Thursday that "the impact on pastoral stations is likely to be considerable."

We won't actually understand the entire effect for some months.

Less than 40,000 people live in the flood-stricken Kimberley region, which is three times greater in area than the United Kingdom. Australia has seen torrential rains on numerous occasions during the previous two years as a result of back-to-back La Nina climate cycles.

In November of last year, flash floods ravaged portions of eastern Australia, knocking entire homes from their foundations in several rural towns.

When floods inundated Sydney's periphery in July, tens of thousands of its citizens were told to leave.

More than 20 people also perished in an east coast flooding disaster in March that was brought on by storms in Queensland and New South Wales. The likelihood of natural disasters is increasing due to climate change, according to many warnings from Australian researchers