At least 88,000 people were still without power in Queensland due to storms that hit eastern Australia on Christmas. Photo courtesy of Energex/Facebook
The death toll from a series of dangerous thunderstorms that hit Australia’s east coast over Christmas has climbed to at least nine, authorities said, as forecasters warn severe weather may hit the region again.
Thunderstorms began to batter the Australia’s eastern states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria on Christmas Monday, submerging tens of thousands into darkness, causing flash floods and damaging thousands of homes. Advertisement
Though the weather has seemingly calmed, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warned Wednesday that severe thunderstorms may again erupt in the next few hours.
Police in Queensland said Wednesday it has recovered the bodies of two women in their 40s from the the Mary River. The incident happened on Tuesday, and police were notified that the two women had gone missing by a third who had made it to safety.
The bodies of three men were also discovered earlier Wednesday in Moreton Bay during a large-scale search and rescue operation launched Tuesday evening after police received reports that a large motorboat with 11 people onboard had overturned.
Eight of the people on the boat were rescued and transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, but two men aged 48 and 69 were found dead overnight with the body of a 59-year-old man found Wednesday morning, police said. Advertisement
A 9-year-old girl reported missing Tuesday was also found dead Wednesday morning, according to police, who did not state the cause of death but said they “do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances.”
In Victoria, police said the body of a woman was located in Buchan by emergency services that responded to the area after reports of a number of vehicles in a campground having been submerged in a flash flood.
At least two other people died as the result of falling trees.
Energex said that in Queensland more than 130,000 customers had been without power, but that they have reduced that number to about 88,000 on Wednesday.
