Violent storms across Australia’s east coast have tragically claimed the lives of six people, including a nine-year-old girl. Image: Storm Cell over the Gold Coast, Doreenpar14 via Wikimedia Commons
Violent storms across Australia’s east coast have tragically claimed the lives of six people, including a nine-year-old girl.
Four deaths have been confirmed in South-east Queensland and two in Victoria as a result of the severe weather, with others still identified as missing.
The deaths include a young girl from Rochedale, south of Brisbane.
Police said her body was recovered after an extensive overnight search, after being swept away by a flood drain.
QFES Acting Deputy Commissioner Kevin Walsh spoke about the circumstances of her death.
“The young child went missing behind some properties and obviously our swift water rescue teams attended and a short time later we found the young girl deceased some way down from where she went into the water, so tragic circumstances,” said Walsh.
A boat which capsized south of Green Island in Moreton Bay was the cause of further grief, with eight people hospitalised and a search-and-rescue operation launched to locate three other passengers.
Two of the missing persons were found deceased, while the search continues for the third.
Glen Hartwig, Gympie mayor, said that the continued search was a high priority.
“Police divers have been requested to come in and start to look for this other female and hopefully an end can be brought to this as soon as possible,” said Hartwig.
“The family needs the closure and it is a difficult time for them and other friends within our region. We are a very close community, even though we are growing quite rapidly; we do care about one another and to have to share a loss like this at this time of year is certainly tragic.”
Another two deaths were reported in Victoria as a result of the violent weather on Boxing Day.
One woman fell victim to flash flooding at a campground in east Gippsland, while another was struck by a falling tree.
Storms over the Christmas holiday left 120,000 homes without power, with some outages continuing through Boxing Day.
Emergency service workers are urging people to stay safe, exercise caution and heed weather warnings, even as storms are expected to ease.
