Large parts of Nebraska and the U.S. Central Plains were underwater on Saturday after a late-winter “bomb cyclone” storm triggered historic flooding along the Missouri and Platte rivers, causing two deaths, tearing apart homes and swallowing roadways.
The National Weather Service predicted dangerous flooding would continue through the weekend in Nebraska and in south and west central Iowa, particularly along the Missouri River.
“We’re still in a very widely dispersed and intense flooding situation in the eastern third of Nebraska,” said Mike Wight, a spokesman for the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, in a phone interview.
Nebraska has had two flood-related fatalities this week, Wight said. One person died at home after failing to evacuate, although the exact cause of death was unclear, authorities said, and the other was swept away while trying to tow a trapped car with his tractor.
The Missouri River was still rising on Saturday evening, local TV station KMTV reported, with a record crest of more than 47 feet expected early on Tuesday in Brownville, Nebraska, about 70 miles south of Omaha in the eastern corner of the state.
“We’re looking at 4, 5, 6, 7 feet above the highest it’s ever been,” Wight said.
The flooding came in the wake of what meteorologists call a “bomb cyclone,” a winter hurricane that forms when the barometric pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours. The storm blew from the western Rockies to the Central Plains last week.
The rising water has reduced stores and homes to rubble and ripped off a long chunk of a highway bridge, according to photos posted on Twitter by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts. Ranchers posted images on social media of their cattle being dug out of snowdrifts or stranded in fields.
Ricketts visited several flooded communities on Saturday and wrote on Twitter that he witnessed “unbelievable devastation.”
Sydney suburb has been smashed with a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours. Downpours and flash flooding were seen across the city throughout Sunday. Areas including CBD and airport received over 100mm of rain since midnight. Experts predict a cyclone could form in the north of the country on Monday… Meaning additional rain and possible flooding for Queensland and the Northern Territory.
As Sydney is smashed with a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours, experts have warned a cyclone could cause further flooding in the north of the country.
The cyclone is expected to form on Monday and bring with it rainfall and possible flooding to Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The adverse weather warning comes after Sydney residents were subjected to heavy rainfall on Sunday, with some parts of the city experiencing flash flooding.
Some areas of the NSW capital received over 70mm of rain since 9am, with one suburb subjected to a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.
Officials issued a severe weather warning to the city, but the rain is expected to ease into the evening.
Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke told Daily Mail Australia that parts of Sydney have experienced the biggest rainfalls in three years.
‘Sydney airport has received over 60mm of rain since 9am Sunday while the CBD saw over 70mm,’ Mr Dutschke said.
A low pressure system that could develop into a cyclone off the north Queensland coast is expected to cause rain and possible flooding in Queensland and the Northern Territory, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
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