Four dead, three missing in eastern Australia storms

 Four people have died while three are still missing from the massive storm front that hit Australia's east coast as major inland floods, giant waves and unusually high tides continue to wreak havoc.

The waves and a massive king tide have eroded 50 meters of beach along a key stretch of Sydney's Northern Beaches, according to the University of New South Wales' (UNSW) Water Research Laboratory, risking a number of multi-million dollar waterfront properties falling into the sea.

While most of the damage occurred on Saturday and Sunday nights, Australia's weather bureau is forecasting another 'king tide' on Tuesday night, potentially causing more erosion to the coastline as wave heights continue to remain high.

"The threat of coastal erosion continues to ease as wave heights gradually reduce along the coast. There remains a low-level threat of some residual erosion, given the forecast tides being at or near the highest of the year," Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said.

Residents from seven of the waterfront properties and an apartment block were evacuated on Sunday, and have not been allowed to return until structural engineers conduct safety inspections.

Local residents are also anxious as the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said on Tuesday that those properties are unlikely to be insured given most policies don't cover "actions of the sea" which include king tides and coastal erosion.

"Ninety-three percent of all new home insurance policies purchased in Australia now include cover for flooding (under the standard definition), but neither actions of the sea nor the effects of gradual sea level rise are considered to be flooding for insurance purposes," ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller said.

The ICA said insurers have received more than 11,150 claims worth an estimated 38 million Australian dollars from the storms, however it's expected that the figure will rise over the coming days.

Adding insult to injury, many residents and government authorities have known the present situation on Sydney's northern beaches may rise as the area is the most 'at-risk' to coastal erosion along the New South Wales state coast, leading coastal management experts have told local media.

"It has been a risk for more than 100 years and essentially nothing has been done for those 100 years," University of Sydney professor of geoscience Andrew Short told Fairfax Media.

Though the number east coast lows that caused the damage along Australia's east coast are expected to fall by 25 percent due to human-induced climate change, the intensity of the storms, and resulting damage, however will rise, climate experts have said.

Four lives have been lost to floodwaters caused by the low across eastern Australia, while search crews are still looking for two people believed swept away from rising waters in Tasmania state. Police and lifeguards are still searching for a man swept off the rocks just south of the iconic Bondi Beach.

The dangerous situation in Tasmania state is still not over with warnings currently in place for three major river systems that are threatening Launceston, testing the levy system built to protect the city following the 1929 floods that saw up to 12 meters of water in some parts of the city.

The state's farmers are also feeling the deluge with some seeing crops destroyed and livestock being swept away.

"There's been huge losses of stock, I'm aware of farmers who have lost 200 head of stock, dairy cattle and beef cattle, logs smashed through houses, irrigators a mangled mess, farms completely underwater," Tasmania Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff told Australia's National Broadcaster.

source : xinhua