SYDNEY, May 13 (Xinhua/APP) –: As severe rain lashes Australia’s east coast, the government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has set up new temporary accommodation sites for flood-affected communities.
The NSW government has opened up nine sites for modular “pod” homes in the Northern Rivers region north of Sydney, which will provide 800 temporary units.
NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said the immediate measures were a short-term solution to help those who had no way of safely getting back to their own homes.
“In the first instance we want to be able to get as many people as possible safely back into their own homes but we know for many people this is simply not an option,” said Toole on Friday.
The latest floods came off the back of devastating flooding that inundated large parts of NSW and its northern neighbour state, Queensland, across February and March.
The record rainfall, dubbed by weather experts as a “one in a thousand year” event, has been in part attributed to the La Nina climate pattern faced by Australia.
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