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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Lydia Chantler-Hicks

Girl, 9, among 10 people killed as storms batter eastern Australia

A nine-year-old girl is among 10 people who were killed over the Christmas period as severe thunderstorms battered eastern Australia.

More than 90,000 homes remained without power on Wednesday, after wild weather lashed the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, bringing large hailstones and torrential rains.

The youngest victim, a nine-year-old girl, has been named locally as Mia Holland-McCormack.

She was found dead in floodwater on Boxing Day, after going missing in a stormwater drain in Brisbane's south.

In a Gofundme page set up in her memory, a relative wrote: "Mia loved adventures and getting up to mischief". They added that Mia was "severely autistic".

They said Mia had escaped her home over a back fence on the evening of December 26, before the storm hit, before later being found "unresponsive" in the water a few kilometres away.

Two women, aged 40 and 46, were also found dead near the town of Gympie, about 180 kms (112 miles) north of the state capital of Brisbane, after they were swept away in flooded stormwater drains, police said.

An emergency worker during a rescue operation in the midst of flood waters after heavy rain at the Buchan campground in east Gippsland, east of Melbourne (VICTORIA POLICE/AFP via Getty Im)

They were among three women swept into the flooded Mary River through a stormwater drain on Tuesday. A 46-year-old woman managed to save herself.

Three men were killed after a yacht with 11 people on board capsized near Green Island in Moreton Bay during the storm, Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carrol told reporters.

A man was found dead in a campground in Victoria after flash flooding, police said. He was believed to have been camping there with a woman who was found dead on Tuesday.

A woman, who is yet to be identified, was found dead late on Tuesday after flash flooding receded at a campground at Buchan in regional Victoria.

Two other people were killed by falling trees.

A search and rescue worker is rescues a dog in the flooded area of Queensland, Australia, amid Cyclone Jasper on December 18 (Anadolu via Getty Images)

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll blamed "extraordinarily difficult weather" for the tragedies.

"It has been a very tragic 24 hours due to the weather," she said.

The storm took down a concrete power line, which was "pretty significant and unprecedented", Queensland Premier Steven Miles said during a media briefing.

Mr Miles said the damage from Cyclone Jasper, which hit the state earlier this month, and the latest thunderstorms which blew off roofs and brought down trees, could be in "the billions."

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology has forecast further rain though the wild weather was expected to ease later on Wednesday.

The storms follow intense heatwaves in the spring that resulted in several bushfires and after Cyclone Jasper caused widespread damage.

"When you start to piece together the experiences of this summer so far it is clear that we are living through an era of escalating climate consequences," said Simon Bradshaw, research director at the independent nonprofit Climate Council.

As Australia battles rain in the east, several regions in the west, in contrast, are fighting fires. A volunteer firefighter was killed while responding to a bushfire, media reported.

Australia's December-February summer is under the influence of the El Nino phenomenon, which can cause weather extremes ranging from wildfires to cyclones and prolonged droughts.

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