Australia. Thousands of people have been called to safer places due to flooding.

Thousands of people in three states in southeastern Australia have been asked to evacuate their homes due to flooding. The situation was worse in Victoria, Australia’s second most populous state.

Maribyrnong, a suburb of Victoria’s capital Melbourne, was flooded Friday morning, officials said. Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews has told ABC radio his government plans to open a coronavirus isolation center as an emergency shelter.

“This is a very, very significant flood event and it’s still a long way off,” Andrews said. The water continues to rise “and more and more homes are inundated, and more and more communities are cut off from the outside world”. The northern part of the island of Tasmania, off Victoria, is also bracing for flooding. “Flooding is life-threatening,” the Tasmanian Disaster Management Agency warned.

A peak is expected on Friday

In the heavily populated state of New South Wales, an evacuation center was set up in the inland town of Forbes, a five-hour drive east of metropolitan Sydney, after heavy rain fell on Thursday evening. The peak of flooding in Forbes was expected on Friday.

Flooding has been a regular occurrence along Australia’s east coast for the past two years. In March, floods caused extensive damage in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. More than 20 people died. In July, tens of thousands of Sydney residents were ordered to evacuate after flooding flooded several suburbs of Australia’s largest city.

SDA