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The useless embrace a nine-year-old little one who was swept right into a surging storm drain on the outskirts of Brisbane.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n A minimum of eight folks have been killed with one nonetheless lacking after extreme storms battered Australia\u2019s jap states over the Christmas holidays, bringing down bushes and energy traces and leaving tens of hundreds of households with out energy.<\/p>\n Police and rescue companies within the states of Victoria and Queensland confirmed the deaths of eight folks, the youngest a nine-year-old woman who was reportedly swept away in a flooded storm drain on the outskirts of Brisbane, Queensland\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n In Gympie, some 180km (111 miles) north of the town, three girls had been swept right into a storm drain when floodwaters surged by way of the agricultural city.<\/p>\n One of many girls survived, a 40-year-old lady died and emergency companies stated there have been now \u201cgrave considerations\u201d for the opposite lady. Queensland Hearth and Emergency Providers deputy commissioner Kevin Walsh stated rescue groups would proceed scouring the world on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s completely tragic information for households on this area at Christmas time,\u201d Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig advised ABC Information.<\/p>\n Extreme thunderstorms hit the nation\u2019s jap coast on December 25 and December 26, bringing massive hailstones, excessive winds and torrential rain. Rivers flooded and excessive winds blew off roofs and introduced down bushes in a few of the worst-affected areas.<\/p>\n Eleven folks had been tossed into the ocean when their boat capsized at sea off Brisbane. Police stated on Wednesday that three folks had drowned, whereas eight had been rescued from the water and rushed to hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been a really tragic 24 hours because of the climate,\u201d Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll advised reporters.<\/p>\n The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that coastal areas in Queensland had been nonetheless liable to \u201charmful\u201d storms in addition to \u201clife-threatening\u201d floods, \u201clarge\u201d hail and \u201cdamaging\u201d winds.<\/p>\n Queensland\u2019s energy firm Energex stated the storm introduced down greater than 1,000 energy traces and about 86,000 households remained with out electrical energy.<\/p>\n It was anticipated to take days to revive energy to some folks, the corporate stated.<\/p>\n In the meantime, in Victoria, a lady was discovered useless late on Tuesday night after flash floods swamped a regional campground in Buchan, 350km (217 miles) east of the state capital Melbourne.<\/p>\n Two folks had been additionally killed by falling bushes.<\/p>\n The wild climate additionally took a toll on the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race.<\/p>\n Lower than 24 hours after the 95 boats left Sydney Harbour on December 26 on their means south to the Tasmanian capital, eight entrants had pulled out.<\/p>\n SHK Scallywag, a Hong Kong-owned ship that had been contesting for the lead, was broken and crew member Geoff Cropley stated the sailors had endured \u201clightning and thunder for hours\u201d.<\/p>\n They had been now \u201chunkered down\u201d, he added, with the climate slowly starting to enhance.<\/p>\n First held in 1945, this yr marks the twenty fifth anniversary of a violent storm that tore into the 1998 race fleet, with wild winds whipping up mountainous seas through which six folks died, 5 boats sank and 55 sailors had been rescued.<\/p>\n The east coast storms come after former Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall earlier this month, inflicting flooding and widespread harm in Queensland.<\/p>\n Within the nation\u2019s west, in the meantime, a number of areas are combating fires. A volunteer firefighter was killed whereas responding to a bushfire, media reported.<\/p>\n Australia is presently in an El Nino, which might trigger extremes starting from wildfires to tropical cyclones and extended droughts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n