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Australia: Crocodiles in the streets and thousands of evacuees following torrential rains

Tropical Cyclone Jasper caused several planes to end up flooded, meanwhile, meteorological data shows more than 600mm (two feet) of rain in the last 24 hours.

This handout taken and released on December 18, 2023 courtesy of Jonty Fratus shows a crocodile being wrangled from floodwaters in the Northern Queensland town of Ingham. Flash floods swamped northeastern Australia on December 18, with raging waters severing roads and flushing crocodiles into towns.

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Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

Torrential rainfall over the last 24 hours has left shocking images in northern Australia, with crocodiles appearing on the streets just meters away from vehicles and citizens circulating on roads in the town of Ingham, and with thousands of people being evacuated following torrential rains in northern Queensland:

The animal was captured by Ingham rangers, the town where the 2.5 meter long reptile appeared. The authorities explained that they received a call alerting them to the presence of the crocodile. Environmental officials arrived minutes later after seeing videos of the animal on social networks. The guards, explains CNN, used a harpoon to capture the crocodile and remove it from the stream, afterwards. authorities recommended that citizens exercise caution, as more reptiles could appear on the streets:

People in flood affected areas cannot be complacent and the capture of this animal is a timely reminder that crocodiles can turn up in unusual places, including places they have never been seen before.

Australia, still on alert due to torrential rains

The culprit behind these images was Tropical Cyclone Jasper. The meteorological phenomenon caused several planes to end up flooded at Cairns airport. All because of torrential rains that, according to meteorological data collected by BBC, shows that there was more than 600 milliliters of rainfall in the last 24 hours, and that it does not seem that it will end soon, because, the British media warns, it is expected that throughout the day, there may be as much as another 500 milliliters of rainfall.

This figure is a record since, as Europa Press recalls, such an amount of rainfall has not been seen since the 1970s. The situation reached such a level that emergency services were unable to evacuate several citizens who were trapped in Cairns. This was the case of nine people, one of them a minor, who ended up asking for help from the roof of a hospital. This was reported by the Premier of Queensland, Steven Miles:

We have people stuck on roofs there that have been there all night. We can’t get aerial support into them because the cloud is so low and the rain is just so heavy. So we have people standing by and ready to do those rescues. But we’ve got to wait till it’s safe to do so.
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