Aftermath of heavy rain and damaging winds in parts of NSW
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The Australian
13 hours ago
- The Australian
Hunter Valley flood victim's body found after days-long search
A body believed to be that of a missing 26-year-old woman has been found by volunteer rescuers in NSW's Hunter Valley. The Chinese national was swept away on Saturday 2 August after downpours flooded the Hunter Region. The woman was a passenger in a Mini Countryman driven by a 27-year-old woman on Old North Road in Rothbury. Her body was found shortly after 11am on Wednesday morning, said Inspector Justin Cornes from the Hunter Valley Police Department 'Our forensic specialist police along with our detectives are on the scene currently,' he said. 'Our thoughts go out to the family of the missing 26-year-old for what has been and will continue to be an extremely difficult time for them.' On Sunday, Hunter Valley District Commander Superintendent Steve Laksa said both women had tried to get out of the car when it was clear they were stuck, but were swept away 'with the rising and rapidly running causeway waters'. He said both were 'swept into the causeway' but the driver managed to surface and collect her dog, which was in the back seat of the car. The driver made her way to the causeway's bank, while the 26-year-old passenger was pulled further away, and eventually found about 450m from the causeway. The passenger had lived in Australia for three years and worked as an engineer. A large-scale search was launched for the woman involving local police, the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit, Marine Area Command, NSW SES, VRA Rescue NSW, and the NSW RFS. It was volunteer rescuers from VRA Rescue NSW who found the body. Rainfall totals as high as 137mm have triggered flash flooding in NSW over the weekend, and the NSW State Emergency Service responded to more than 1455 incidents caused by the severe weather, including more than 100 stuck vehicles. More than 40 flood warnings were issued north of Newcastle, and parts of the Upper Hunter town of Scone were ordered to evacuate immediately due to 'major flooding'. At the time Superintendent Laksa urged people to follow warnings about floodwaters. 'I'd just ask the community to take heed of those warnings and do not enter any waterway,' he said. The body is yet to be formally identified, and a report will be prepared for the coroner. Brendan Kearns Cadet Journalist Brendan Kearns is a cadet journalist with News Corp Australia. He has written for The Australian, the Herald Sun, the Geelong Advertiser, CHOICE, Cosmos, and The Citizen. He won Democracy's Watchdogs' Student Award for Investigative Journalism 2024 and hosted the third season of award-winning podcast Uncurated. He studied as Master of Journalism at The University of Melbourne, before that he worked as a video producer and disability worker. NewsWire An 84-year-old man has died three days after he and his wife, 82, were allegedly assaulted by a man known to them at their home near Wagga Wagga. NewsWire A 'hardworking father' who died at a construction site has been remembered as someone who always put others first.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Flash floods in India wash away village, kill four and leave over 50 missing
Surging floodwaters and a torrent of mud have swept through a village in the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. At least four people were killed and more than 50 others were missing, authorities and local TV channels said on Tuesday. Teams from the army and disaster response forces had reached the area, local authorities said, and workers were trying to rescue people trapped under debris and sludge. TV news channels showed floodwaters and mud surging down a mountain and crashing into the village, sweeping away houses and roads as people ran for their lives. The mudslide cleaved through Dharali village, burying some houses, according to a video update shared by the state chief minister's office. Four people were killed and many more had been rescued so far, Uttarkashi district administrator Prashant Arya told local media. "A massive mudslide struck Dharali village in the Kheer Gad area near Harsil, triggering a sudden flow of debris and water through the settlement," the Central Command of the Indian Army said in a post on X. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to those affected and said teams were making every attempt to provide assistance. Uttarakhand is prone to floods and landslides, which some experts blame on climate change. At least 200 people were killed in 2021, when flash floods swept away two hydro-electric projects in the state. There are about 10,000 glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, and many are receding due to the warming climate.
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
‘Cloudburst': Village wiped out, horror scenes
A horrifying surge of floodwaters and mud has annihilated a village in the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, killing at least four people with around 100 others missing. The roaring waters tore down a narrow mountain valley, demolishing buildings as the flood barrelled into the town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state. 'It is a serious situation,' Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency. 'We have received information about four deaths and around 100 people missing. We pray for their safety.' Videos broadcast on Indian media showed a terrifying surge of muddy water sweeping away multi-storey apartment blocks in the tourist region. Several people could be seen running before being engulfed by the dark waves of debris that uprooted entire buildings. Uttarakhand State Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said rescue teams had been deployed 'on a war footing'. India's army said 150 troops had reached the town, helping rescue around 20 people who had survived the wall of freezing sludge. 'A massive mudslide struck Dharali... triggering a sudden flow of debris and water through the settlement,' the army said. Images released by the army, taken from the site after the main torrent had passed, showed a river of slow-moving mud. A wide swath of the town was swamped by deep debris. In places, the mud lapped at the rooftops of houses. State Disaster Response Force commander Arpan Yaduvanshi said the mud was 50 feet (15 metres) deep in places, swamping some buildings entirely. 'Search and rescue efforts are ongoing, with all available resources being deployed to locate and evacuate any remaining stranded persons,' army spokesman Suneel Bartwal said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences in a statement, and said that 'no stone is being left unturned in providing assistance'. Chief Minister Dhami said the flood was caused by a sudden and intense 'cloudburst', calling the destruction 'extremely sad and distressing'. The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert warning for the area, saying it had recorded 'extremely heavy' rainfall of around 21 centimetres (eight inches) in isolated parts of Uttarakhand. Deadly floods and landslides are common during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change, coupled with urbanisation, is increasing their frequency and severity. The UN's World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a 'distress signal' of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable. 'The devastating loss... must be our final wake-up call', said climate activist Harjeet Singh, from the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation in New Delhi. 'This tragedy is a deadly cocktail', he added. 'Global warming is super-charging our monsoons with extreme rain, while on the ground, our own policies of cutting hills; unscientific, unsustainable, and reckless construction; and choking rivers for so-called 'development' are destroying our natural defences.'
