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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Graham Readfearn

It’s not just the total rainfall – why is eastern Australia experiencing such sudden, devastating downpours?

Queensland’s Coomera river was one of many that cut road access after torrential rain on the Gold Coast over the holiday season.
Queensland’s Coomera river was one of many that cut road access after torrential rain on the Gold Coast over the holiday season. Photograph: Dave Hunt/EPA

For thousands of people around Australia the Christmas of 2023 will be remembered not as a season of joy and goodwill, but for torrential storms and flash floods that claimed lives and tore through homes.

At least seven people died in storms in Queensland and Victoria from flood waters and falling debris, and three more were lost from a yacht in Brisbane’s Moreton Bay.

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