Sydney – A person died on Sunday in strong floods in Queensland’s Australian state, authorities said, urging thousands of people to move to a higher land due to torrential rains.
Queensland authorities said the big floods were underway in the coastal sheet of Fuechinbrook, a town of around 11,000 people located about 310 miles north of the state capital, Brisbane. Several suburbs in the nearby city of Townsville were also affected, authorities said.
North Queensland has large zinc reserves, as well as important silver, lead, copper and iron mineral deposits, with Townsville an important processing center for the base metals of the region. In 2019, serious floods in the area interrupted lead shipments and zinc concentrates and damaged thousands of properties.
“Residents in low areas must collect their evacuation kit and move to a safe place in a higher terrain. This situation can represent a threat to life and property, ”said the regional emergency management authorities on Sunday morning.
The flood was triggered by heavy rains of a low pressure in tropical moisture, said the Australian weather forecast on its website, adding that the total rain to 11 hours probably had up to 11.8 inches.
“The potential of heavy rains, locally intense and harmful winds can continue at the beginning of next week subject to the force and position of the channel and bass,” he said.
Frequent floods have reached east of Australia in recent years, including floods “once in the century” that flooded the territory of the neighboring northern in January 2023 during an weather event of the Nina of several years.
