UA school-age boy died after being struck by a “large branch” in the town of Gowangardie in southeastern Victoria state, local police said.
Also in Vitória, authorities recorded three more deaths between Tuesday and Wednesday.
In neighboring state Queensland, the death toll rose to seven, including a 9-year-old girl who was swept away by flash floods.
Torrential rain, winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, flooding and, in some cases, hailstorms left more than 124,000 people without electricity in southern Queensland on Christmas Day. Around 45 thousand are still waiting for service to be restored.
Australian weather forecasters have predicted severe thunderstorms to hit southeast Queensland over the weekend.
The storms that hit New South Wales between Sunday and Tuesday flooded several streets and Sydney airport, while dozens of homes were damaged by hail in the city’s suburbs.
Australia faced a season of heavy rain on the east coast, despite drier than usual weather this southern summer due to El Niño, a natural phenomenon caused by currents in the Pacific Ocean that, worsened by global warming, can cause devastating disasters.
Read Also: Bad weather kills 10 people in Australia and leaves 90,000 without electricity
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2469316/onze-mortos-em-tempestades-no-leste-da-australia
