Wild weather battered parts of Australia, forcing the evacuation of towns inundated by swollen rivers in some parts of the country on Saturday. In southwest New South Wales the local government declared some areas natural disaster zones after rivers burst their banks due to torrential rains, flooding towns. Many residents were caught by surprise. It came up so quickly and people didn't have a chance and people are saying they didn't get warned, said local resident Peter Thompson. State Emergency Services were busy helping flood victims. We were pretty stressed, swimming around our main street that normally has double trucks going up it and we're swimming with snakes and lizards and spiders, said State Emergency Services worker Amanda Shoat. South East Queensland was hit by gale-force winds, and 32,000 houses lost power while a cold front brought spring-time snow to Kinglake in Victoria.
