20 rescued as floods sweep Australia

Sydney: A teenage boy was dramatically rescued from surging floodwaters as he clung to a tree on Friday, while others were plucked from stranded cars and homes as floods swept northeastern Australia.

Authorities said there were 20 water rescue cases across central Queensland state overnight and early Friday, after the remnants of tropical cyclone Oswald dumped huge rains around the coastal city of Rockhampton.

Rescues included those of a woman and two children trapped in a car isolated by flood waters, and seven people taken from two flooded homes.

Authorities said a teenage boy was lucky to be alive after he was found clinging to a tree as muddy floodwaters surged around him at Frenchville, some 525 kilometres northwest of Brisbane, early on Friday.

“The current was so strong it just took him away,” station officer Brett Williams told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The national broadcaster said the boy’s rescuer was himself swept under the waters after helping the teenager to dry land, but later bobbed up safely further down the swollen creek.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning, saying with ex-tropical cyclone Oswald over central Queensland, damaging winds with gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour were possible in the wider Rockhampton area.

The torrential rain has flooded rivers and dumped enough water to isolate towns, with Rockhampton experiencing its biggest daily downpour since 1939.

The bureau said severe flash flooding was reported overnight in the Yeppoon area, north of Rockhampton, where rainfall of 271 millimetres has been recorded since early Thursday.