Ten dead in Queensland, NSW floods as cows wash up on Gold Coast beach

Ten people have died in the floods devastating NSW and Queensland, with locals horrified to discover dead cows washing up on one Gold Coast beach.

Ten people have died in devastating floods that forced tens of thousands to evacuate across Australia’s east coast.

Flood warnings are in effect for dozens of rivers across the states of Queensland and New South Wales, where a days-long “rain bomb” has dumped a metre of rain in at least 33 places in the last six days.

The national flood death toll hit 10 on Tuesday, after a 76-year-old man was found at Glen Esk in Queensland and an 80-year-old woman was found in a flooded home in Lismore - the first confirmed death in NSW.

The 76-year-old man was driving on Sunday night when floodwatrers washed his car off the road. Authorities are still searching for a 74-year-old man who fell into the Brisbane River from an anchored yacht on Saturday.

The floodwaters slowly began to recede on Tuesday afternoon, but residents in Sydney and the NSW South Coast were given a fresh warning to brace for the damaging storm system to hit.

On the Gold Coast, locals were shocked to find dead cows on the beach in Broadbeach. The Courier Mail reported some cows came from the Murwillumbah area, more than 30km away.

“It’s been a tough time for our rescue teams,“ RSPCA Queensland spokeswoman Emma Lagoon said.

“Like many others, we’ve been limited with our ability to get to every call for help due to flooded roads and staff and volunteers also stranded.”

Livestock has washed up on the beach in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

Emergency responders were forced to carry livestock away with machinery.

Several waterways in northern NSW have already burst their banks or broken through levees, inundating towns and forcing residents to flee or seek safety on higher ground.

“We’ve seen people stranded on roofs for hours, we’ve seen children being rescued, we’re seeing people stranded on bridges,” said New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet.

Ten people have died, over 1,000 people have been rescued and there have already been 80,000 claims for disaster support in 35 local government areas.

Authorities have warned that more fatalities are likely.

In one spectacular rescue, a helicopter crew flew in to pluck two people to safety as muddy waters lapped at the corrugated metal roof of their home.

Live television images on national broadcaster ABC showed a rescuer sitting on the roof with the pair, preparing to strap them to the chopper’s winch.

In the town of Lismore, nine people were missing amid the worst floods on record.

The local member of parliament for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, had to swim to safety after she was stranded in the floodwaters.

“We went to the verandah, hanging on to the rafters,” she told the Nine Newspapers.

- Sailing past roofs - Emergency services were overwhelmed by calls for help and flotillas of makeshift rescue boats fanned out across the town as people tried to ferry their neighbours to safety.

Lismore resident Danika Hardiman was rescued Monday after she woke up to find floodwaters had reached the balcony of her second-floor apartment in the town’s main street.

She and her partner managed to climb up to the roof and were eventually rescued by “two guys in a boat, two locals”, she told AFP Monday, describing the scenes in Lismore as “horrific”.

“Imagine you’re in a boat sailing past people’s roofs,” she said. In total, more than 150,000 people are subject to evacuation orders, according to an AFP tally.

Makeshift evacuation centres have been set up in primary schools, recreation centres and retired service members’ clubs.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services rescuers on a boat evacuating people along a flood street around Maryborough in Queensland.

Locations on the south and south-western suburbs of Brisbane are seen flooded on March 01, 2022 in Brisbane, Australia. Over 15,000 are predicted to be flood-damaged after the Brisbane River peaked at 3.85 metres.

Near the town of Grafton, buildings were submerged almost to roof level, roads were washed away and cattle roamed abandoned.

Further south in Sydney, residents endured another day of torrential downpours, and were warned to brace for “major flooding”.

Australia has been on the sharp end of climate change, with droughts, deadly bushfires, bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and floods becoming more common and more intense as global climate patterns change.

- With AFP