Tag Archives: oceania

Border communities prepare for 'once in a lifetime' flood event

Hundreds of people on the New South WalesVictoria border are preparing for a "once in a lifetime" flooding event as the swollen Murray River teeters on breaking its banks.

Border communities have been rallying together to build the three-kilometre-long and two-metre-high levee designed to protect thousands of homes from flooding when the Murray River peaks later this week.

Echuca resident Nick told Today his home has just missed out on being included in the area protected by the levee, leaving him "gutted".

READ MORE: Storm band stretching more than 2000 kilometres fuels flooding fears

He can see the levee from his doorstep.

"To get the news that the shire were putting a levee bank in was great, but to find out they were sacrificing us was totally gutting us to be honest," he said.

Nick sandbagged his home on Sunday while his wife and children were out sandbagging in other parts of the community.

"If we'd have left it till yesterday we'd have got (no sandbags) because the bank went up yesterday. It is devastating," he said.

"My wife and kids sandbagged all weekend for the community.

"We're a pretty tight-knit community here in Echuca so they spent all weekend helping the rest of the community and then the shire went and put that bank up and basically we feel like we're not part of the community anymore.

"We're not worth saving. It hurts, really hurts."

READ MORE: SES sends 125,000 sandbags to town as floodwaters rise

The hopes of the Echuca community are resting on this 2.5 kilometre clay wall.

Nick said he and his family would stay in their home until the water arrived, when they would leave in their boat.

"We're just riding the roller coaster. We're just waiting for the water. It's coming, we're going to get it, it's just a matter of when now," he said.

Nick has said residents were given "zero say" about who was to be protected by a town meeting, which was attended by 300 to 400 people.

"They took five questions after they told us the devastating news. Two of those questions were answered with, 'I can't answer that. Thanks for coming, see you later'," he said.

"Unfortunately we're the sacrificial lambs out this side and we'll have to wait and see what happens to us."

READ MORE: Victorians impacted by floodwaters eligible for emergency payments

Graphic showing Moama and Echuca ahead of flood event.

At today's town meeting in Echuca, officials said the choice of levee position was "the best choice" at the time.

Even year 12 students swapped muck-up day celebrations to sandbag the Echuca Village.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, Moama is expected to be the hardest-hit and residents are sandbagging or evacuating ahead of the nervous wait for water levels to surge.

The worst of the flooding is predicted for Friday or Saturday.

"It's a wait and see game to see where the rain falls and how the rivers response," Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.

A 300-strong team of SES volunteers is mobilising to help evacuate people and protect properties, along with over 100 defence force personnel. 

"We got heaps of people on the go… it's flat out, it's crazy," a resident told 9News.

READ MORE: Study finds worrying news for people who sleep less than five hours

Floodwaters from the Murray River in Moama.

A holiday park in Moama is expected to be the first to feel the pinch.

"As you can see, we're pretty much in the firing line here," the owners said.

"It doesn't take much when the water goes up to cover massive kilometres of farmland and communities," SES commissioner Carlee York said.

An RFS base camp is being set up at Deniliquin, the closest dry area, which is almost 70 kilometres away from the flood zone. 

Body found in search for man missing in NSW flood

A body has been found in the search for a man believed missing in New South Wales floods. 

The body was located on a rural property in Wallanthery, in the state's central west, this morning and is believed to belong a missing 63-year-old man.

The man was last seen on October 11 about 35 kilometres away on a rural property in Hillston.

Police were notified when he did not return home that night and commenced a search at the Lachlan Valley Way property.

The NSW State Emergency Service joined the search along with NSW ambulance and various police agencies.

But he could not be found.

Police recovered the body after it was sighted on the rural property today.

The man is yet to be formally identified.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death. 

A report will be prepared for the coroner. 

This comes as a second death was recorded in Victoria's flood crisis. 

Friend recalls 'wonderful couple' killed in Russian drone attack on Kyiv

A pregnant woman and her husband killed in Kyiv by what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian "kamikaze" drone strike were inseparable, like "yin and yang", their close friend has told CNN.

"These people loved life," Anna Petrukova said of Victoria Zamchenko and her husband Bohdan, both 34, who she described as a "wonderful couple".

"They had a lot of plans – they dreamed of their own home, children, a full-fledged family, travel. They had very big plans for this life," Petrukova said.

READ MORE: What are 'kamikaze' drones and how do they work?

Victoria Zamchenko and her husband Bohdan were killed in a Russian drone strike.

The Zamchenkos died at home in their apartment in Kyiv on Monday, following a barrage of strikes by Russian-launched, Iranian-made "kamikaze" drones, according to Ukrainian officials.

Victoria Zamchenko was six months pregnant with the couple's first child.

Drones have played a significant role in the conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, but their use has increased since Moscow acquired new drones from Iran over the summer.

Unlike more traditional, larger and faster military drones that return to base after dropping missiles, "kamikaze" drones are designed to crash into a target and explode, detonating their warhead and destroying the drones in the process.

The Ukrainian military and US intelligence say Russia is using Iranian-made attack drones. 

US officials told CNN in July that Iran had begun showcasing Shahed series drones to Russia at Kashan Airfield south of Tehran the previous month.

In August, US officials said Russia had bought these drones and was training its forces how to use them. According to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia has ordered 2400 Shahed-136 drones from Iran.

READ MORE: Aussie top guns headhunted by China

The Zamchenkos died at home in their apartment in Kyiv.

'Yin and yang'

The Zamchenkos were among at least five people killed in the Russian drone attacks on Kyiv Monday, which sent shock waves through the Ukrainian capital, damaging residential buildings and burying civilians under rubble. 

At least three people died in separate strikes on Tuesday.

Petrukova, who was in phone contact with Victoria Zamchenko just minutes before her death, said the first drone strikes Monday had trapped the couple in their apartment.

"They could no longer leave the house because there was an incoming hit at the [thermal power plant] right opposite," Petrukova recalled. 

"So they were sitting in the corridor."

"The last message from her was at 8.18am [when] she heard two more incoming hits. 

"After that, obviously, there was a fifth one. And the connection with her was lost."

Petrukova added that the couple had been considering leaving the city, after the windows of their apartment were blown out in an attack last week.

Victoria Zamchenko had returned to Kyiv in August from her home city of Rinve in western Ukraine. 

She had missed her work as a sommelier at a local wine shop, Petrukova said.

"She was cheerful, highly intelligent, soulful, funny, deep kind of person," Petrukova said of her friend. 

"We always had something to talk about and something to be silent about."

Together since their university days, the Zamchenkos were "inseparable," like "yin and yang," Petrukova said.

"It is impossible to imagine them separately. They always held hands, always hugged. 

"There was a lot of tenderness and warmth between them. 

"It was always a pleasure to be around them. They were fun people."