Australia airdrops supplies to farmers stranded by floods

Helicopters were airdropping animal feed on Sunday to farmers in Australia stranded by floods that have killed five and isolated tens of thousands in the country's southeast.

Recovery was under way in the mid-north coast region of New South Wales state after days of flooding cut off towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes. At least 10,000 properties may have been damaged in the floods, which were sparked by days of incessant rain, authorities estimate.

The floodwaters "trashed" Dan Patch's house in rural Ghinni Ghinni near hard-hit Taree, and some cattle on the property have gone without food for days, he said.

"It's the worst we've ever seen," Patch told Reuters. "It's the worst everybody's seen around this area."

About 32,000 residents of Australia's most populous state remained isolated due to floodwaters that were slowly starting to recede, the state's Emergency Services posted on the X platform.

"The New South Wales government is providing emergency fodder, veterinary care, management advice and aerial support for isolated stock," state Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said in a statement.

It said 43 helicopter drops and around 130 drops by other means had provided "isolated farmers with emergency fodder for their stranded livestock".

At their peak, the floods isolated around 50,000 people, submerging intersections and street signs in mid-north coast towns and covering cars up to their windshields, after fast-rising waters burst river banks.

Five deaths have been linked to the floods, the latest a man in his 80s whose body was found at a flooded property about 50 km (30 miles) from Taree, police said. Taree sits along the Manning River more than 300 km (190 miles) north of the state capital, Sydney.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that conditions remained critical in flood-affected regions as clean-up efforts began.

Australia has been hit with increasing extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. After droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.