Australians have been rescued from flooding, and more heavy rain is expected

Emergency services rescued more than two dozen people from a flooded area in the Australian state of Victoria. More land in the area is expected to be flooded next day, as heavy rain has already fallen recently and more heavy rain is expected.

For example, on Sunday in the town of Redesdale – located about a hundred kilometers north of Melbourne – the amount of rain that usually falls in a month fell within three hours.

Heavy rains led to saturated ground and rising water levels in Victoria's rivers. There are also problems due to wet summers in the northern state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located.

Victoria Emergency Services received about 700 emergency calls on Monday, most of them from the area around Bendigo. Flash flood warnings were issued today in several places.

Aaron White, from the Australian Volunteer Emergency Service SES, warns ABC public broadcaster that people should not make rash decisions. “For example, by driving through a flooded area. No one knows what is under that water.” According to him, cars can get into trouble in water up to 15 cm deep.

Eastern Australia has recently faced quite a few storms, floods and even cyclones, while drought and bushfires have been expected due to the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Every few years, this natural phenomenon — which occurs when the surface temperature of the water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator is warmer than average — results in record temperatures and extreme weather around the world. In Australia, this often means warm and dry summers in practice.

In this explanation from NOS op 3 we explain how the El Niño phenomenon arises: