© AAP Image/Jason O’Brien A mother and her child stroll through the town of Ballina, New South Wales, submerged in floodwater – AAP Image/Jason O’Brien
Dozens of stories of heroism have emerged from Australia as torrential rains continue to cause major flooding across the country’s east coast, with tens of thousands of Sydney residents told to evacuate on Wednesday night and the death toll rising to 13.
One such story came from Lismore, a city in New South Wales, where a police officer saved a 93-year-old woman from drowning.
Upon hearing faint cries, he dived underwater and swam through a window to rescue the woman, who was floating on a mattress with just 20cm (7.9ins) between her and the ceiling. She was pulled out and put into a waiting rescue boat.
Others in Lismore were not so lucky. Earlier on Wednesday, the bodies of two women aged in their 80s and a man in his 70s were discovered in their flooded homes, and another man was found floating in the street in the town centre.
Four have died there so far, with more deaths expected as police check houses after waters recede.
The flood damage in pictures
Submerged cars in Lismore, where the bodies of two women in their 80s were discovered in their flooded homes – Jason O’Brien/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
© Provided by The Telegraph
Thirteen people across Australia have so far been killed by the extreme weather, which has moved from Queensland into New South Wales, submerging town centres, washing away homes and cutting power lines.
Rivers in Sydney’s west rose rapidly on Wednesday evening, prompting the nighttime evacuation of suburbs along the Hawkesbury River, which reached major flood levels.
In Penrith – a city downriver from the Warragamba Dam, which began overflowing on Wednesday – residents were warned to leave soon. Authorities said that flooding along the rising Nepean River could exceed last year’s flood, the worst in 60 years.
Dominic Perrottet, the premier of New South Wales, flew over the flooded towns on Wednesday and tweeted images of the town of Ballina hit by flooding:
1/3 In the air earlier with Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke to see the extent of the flood damage and required support. Many roads are cut off, making ground access still very difficult.
These photos show Ballina underwater and inundated farmland. #NSWfloods pic.twitter.com/5bbrIKnkeT
— Dom Perrottet (@Dom_Perrottet) March 2, 2022
He said that 17 local government areas had been declared disaster zones in an “unprecedented situation”, and urged people in Sydney to evacuate if they are given the order by emergency crews.
Worsening rain was expected to hit Sydney in the early hours of Thursday morning local time. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said that Sydneysiders should brace for a month’s worth of rain in a few hours.
Stephanie Cooke, the New South Wales emergency services minister, told ABC: “Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted by this event. It is not over by any stretch of the imagination.”
The disaster raised questions about how prepared Australia was for being at the forefront of severe climate change, according to one academic expert.
“Despite decades of warnings from scientists about climate change, Australia is unprepared for the supercharged weather that it is now driving,” said Prof Hilary Bambrick, an environmental epidemiologist at the Queensland University of Technology, who led the health impacts assessment for Australia’s national climate change review.
Military helicopters airlifted stranded people from rooftops, while stranded motorists and animals were rescued from a bridge in northern New South Wales after fast-rising waters submerged both ends.