NATURAL DISASTER FLOOD TRAGEDY

AS MOTHER NATURE WREAKS HAVOC ACROSS THE COUNTRY YET AGAIN, AUSTRALIANS RALLY TO RESCUE FLOOD-STRICKEN VICTIMS

- Penelope Clifton

The images are heartbreaking and the stories harrowing as an unprecedented natural disaster hits the eastern states of Australia, destroying communities, taking lives and leaving residents helpless and homeless.

Catastrophic flooding across Queensland and New South Wales has left, at the time of going to press, at least eight people dead, hundreds missing – and it’s not over yet with an intense weather system set to wreak further havoc. In addition to south east Queensland, Lismore and the Tweed Valley in NSW are experiencing record water levels unseen since 1954.

Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg says the SES has been bombarded with calls from families clambering onto their rooftops. “We have broken flood records dating back to [1954] already and there is no let up,” Mr Krieg told