At least nine persons dead after severe storm hit eastern Australia

At least nine people were killed after heavy storms hit Australia’s Eastern States over the Christmas holidays, tearing down trees and power lines and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

Police and rescue agencies in the states of Victoria and Queensland confirmed the deaths of eight persons, the youngest of whom was a nine-year-old girl who was apparently washed away in a flooded storm drain on the suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland’s capital.

Floodwaters pushed three women into a storm drain at Gympie, 180 kilometers (111 miles) north of the city.

One of them lived, but the other two were found dead.

Severe thunderstorms hit the country’s eastern coast on December 25 and December 26, bringing large hailstones, high winds and torrential rain. Rivers flooded and the winds ripped off roofs and brought down trees in some of the worst-affected areas.

Eleven people were thrown into the ocean when their boat capsized in the sea at Moreton Bay in Queensland’s south. Police said on Wednesday that three people had drowned, while eight were rescued from the water and rushed to hospital in a stable condition.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that coastal regions in Queensland were still at risk of “dangerous” storms as well as “life-threatening” floods, “giant” hail and “damaging” winds.

Queensland’s power company said the storm brought down more than 1,000 power lines and about 86,000 households remained without electricity.

It was expected to take days to restore power to some people, the company said.

Australia is currently in an El-Nino, which can cause extremes ranging from wildfires to tropical cyclones and prolonged droughts.