It has been a terrible year for Australia’s wildlife and livestock that are now trying to survive the rainfall pummelling New South Wales after fire and flood. Reports of spiders swarming by residents’ homes to reach higher ground have spread on social media but animals are struggling across eastern Australia.
In the worst flooding in decades, close to a metre of rain has fallen in some parts of New South Wales and more is forecast to come, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. Torrential rain lashed Australia’s south east on Monday, worsening once-in-a-century flooding that has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and shuttered hundreds of schools. The days-long deluge has inundated coastal areas of New South Wales, the country’s most populous State, with parts of Sydney experiencing what officials predicted would be the biggest flood in decades.
On Monday, eight million residents were told to avoid unnecessary travel and work from home if possible, as some hard-hit areas received 25 centimetres of rain in 24 hours. Just over a year ago the region was parched: suffering prolonged drought, water restrictions and unprecedented bushfires.
