Australia Evacuates Flooded Towns After Deadly Cyclone Debbie

BEENLEIGH, Australia, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2017 ) - A second woman's body was found Friday and tens of thousands of people were evacuated from towns in two Australian states after torrential rain caused by a powerful tropical cyclone.

Category four Cyclone Debbie hit northeastern Australia on Tuesday between Bowen and Airlie Beach in Queensland state, ripping up trees, washing boats onto land and causing widespread damage. Debbie was downgraded to a tropical low as it tracked southeast, but continued to pack damaging gusts and dump huge amounts of rain all the way down the east coast to New South Wales state, south of Queensland, and Sydney.

NSW Police said the body of a woman who "disappeared in floodwaters overnight from a rural property" near Murwillumbah just south of the Queensland border was found on Friday. The body of a 64-year-old woman, whose vehicle was swept off a causeway on a property in Gungal, about 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Sydney, on Thursday night, was recovered Friday.

The woman's 74-year-old husband, who was also in the vehicle, managed to get out. Lismore, south of Murwillumbah near the NSW coast was hard hit, with the State Emergency Service (SES) warning of three-metre (10-feet) high flood levels in the town.

Earlier Friday, SES acting deputy commissioner Mark Morrow said he had fears for some missing residents from Lismore. "As we start to go out and try to find people that made... calls overnight, there could be some very distressing news," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"There could be people overnight that perished in that flood, we don't know at this stage." Other towns subject to evacuation orders include Tweed Heads, Kingscliff and Murwillumbah.