Around 20 kiwi have been killed in one Bay of Islands hotspot since 2023.

British band Pulp has backflipped on its decision to cancel its performance at the Adelaide Festival after the organisers apologised for cancelling Palestinian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah's appearance.

Pulp, fronted by Jarvis Cocker, said it was "appalled" after the Adelaide Festival Board decided to uninvite Abdel-Fattah from Adelaide Writers' Week earlier this month over cultural sensitivities following the December 14 Bondi attack.

"We want to make it absolutely clear that Pulp refuse to condone the silencing of voices. We celebrate difference, and oppose censorship, violence and oppression in all its forms," the band said in a statement. 

READ MORE: Australian father struck and killed by police car in London

Abdel-Fattah's axing led to Pulp and other acts cancelling their appearance, an exodus of 180 writers, including former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Booker Prize-shortlisted British author Zadie Smith, and the Adelaide Writers' Week director, and the former board chair and three board members resigning.

The fallout led to next month's event being scrapped entirely.

With a new board in place, which has apologised to Abdel-Fattah and reinvited her to next year's event, Pulp said it felt it could perform in good conscience in Adelaide next month.

"⁠It is our understanding that the festival programmers are now acting in good faith," the band said.

"The festival board that made this dreadful decision have been replaced, and a full apology has been accepted by Randa Abdel-Fattah, who has been invited to appear next year.⁠

"Given this new and welcome development we feel able, in good conscience, to honour our invitation to perform in Adelaide on 27 February.

READ MORE: Future of Bondi footbridge on hold after council pushes back decision

"We hope that our free concert will be an opportunity for different communities to come together in peace and harmony.⁠"

The Adelaide Writers' Week is a world-renowned event that draws in dozens of local and international writers and more than 160,000 attendees each year.

The new board accepted that it had "fell well short" of upholding intellectual and artistic freedom and said it would honour the "powerful human right" moving forward.

The new chair and members are now left to pick up the pieces to restore public trust and repair reputational damage.

Abdel-Fattah has accepted the board's apology and said she would consider its invitation to speak at next year's event.

"Whilst AF's statement acknowledges the harm done, it is not a quick fix to repair the damage and injury inflicted," she said.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

A 21-year-old had a six-year addiction to child exploitation material.

Graham Dickason quietly remarried in South Africa several months ago.

Mourners give Sir Tim a standing ovation as a video let him have the last word.

Police urge worried relatives to call 105 and quote event number P065149924.

Police warn that any attempted march will be considered ‘unlawful activity’.

Hastings District Council is adding a 900mm pipe and detention pond by April.

Victoria has been left reeling after sudden flash flooding smashed through a popular holiday spot yesterday with next to no warning.

But it was the nature of this weather event that made it so difficult to predict.

Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) manager for hazard preparedness and response Diana Eadie said in a press conference this afternoon that warnings were issued appropriately but flash flooding events are difficult to predict.

READ MORE: Holidaygoers trapped in surging flash flood open up on moment 'tsunami' hit Victorian tourist hotspot

The BoM warned of severe thunderstorms with heavy rain focused over Gippsland earlier this week, as well as the risk of rain over the Otway Ranges.

Then Mt Cowley in Lorne recorded 45mm of rain in one hour yesterday morning.

Within an hour, the BoM had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding, which was soon escalated to include the Surf Coast.

READ MORE: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt launches angry tirade against journalist

What followed was a downpour of 180mm of rain in less than five hours that caused flash flooding in Wye River, Kennett River, Cumberland River and Lorne.

The rainfall broke records in some areas.

Holidaymakers and locals fled to higher ground where they watched the traumatic scenes unfold.

Roads flooded, cars and caravans were swept away, and at least one person had to be rescued from a roof.

The immediate flash flooding threat has passed but clean-up efforts will likely drag on for days.

Professor Andrew Western, chair of hydrology and water resources at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, said he wasn't surprised that warnings for the flash flooding came so last-minute.

"First of all, rainfall predictions are really hard, especially the sort of events that led to these floods," he told 9news.com.au.

"These were really big rainfall events, like we're talking somewhere vaguely in the one in 100-year probability levels … so predicting that size rainfall event is super hard."

READ MORE: Almost 5 million social media accounts were wiped in the first week of under-16s ban

The second contributing factor was that the downpour fell over small catchments in the Otways, which tend to respond rapidly to brief, intense rainfall.

Where larger rural catchments can handle longer periods of rain before flooding, small catchments can spill over in a matter of hours during intense rainfall.

That makes it difficult for the BoM or emergency services to predict flash flooding in small catchment areas ahead of time.

Eadie said much the same today.

"With small catchments, you tend to get very little warning," Western said.

And that can be deadly.

In 2011 the tiny town of Grantham, in Queensland's Lockyer Valley, was hit by a sudden and devastating flash flood that claimed 12 lives.

There were no reported deaths from the flooding in Victoria yesterday and dramatic flood events like it remain relatively rare in Australia.

But global warming could change that.

READ MORE: How Iran's collapsing currency led to the deaths of hundreds and may topple an entire country

Climate change has made Australia's weather more volatile and contributed to extreme weather events on both ends of the spectrum, from cyclones to bushfires, which often occur in quick succession.

Earlier this month, Central Queensland was ravaged by ex-cyclone Koji, which left entire towns underwater.

Meanwhile, 10 major bushfires are still burning in parts of Victoria, where horror blazes have damaged or destroyed more than 1000 structures, including almost 300 homes.

These extreme weather events are becoming more common, making it harder for forecasters to accurately predict what will come next when Australia's weather no longer behaves the way it did in the past.

For the time being, Western encouraged all Australians to research their local flood risk and what to do in an emergency situation.

"Flood events are things that only happen occasionally, so they tend to be a surprise to people because people are not very informed about their local risks," he said.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Australian-owned clothing brand Fletcher Jones is closing all of its remaining physical stores and online business, according to its website, in the latest blow to the nation's struggling retail sector.

The business, which was once a shining star in Victoria's clothing industry, was forced to axe some of its stores and staff after it first went into administration 15 years ago.

After a slow decline, the business announced to customers on its website the remainder of its outlets would close.

READ MORE: Cult Australian designer clothing brand to close down within weeks

READ MORE: Legacy Aussie retailer lashed over this image: 'Garbage'

The business first started in 1924 when founder David Fletcher Jones began selling textiles in Warrnambool, Victoria.

The company opened retail stores in the 1930s and 1940s with a range of men's suits and trousers.

READ MORE: Aussie retailer City Beach fined $14m for button battery breaches

READ MORE: Ice packs recalled over toxic substance concerns

During this time, the company manufactured most of its garments from a growing workforce of tailors.

Years later in the 1947, the company purchased a large plot of land in Warrnambool and built a garment factory on it.

The company's golden years began in 1970s and 1980s when stores expanded across Australia

The business also had manufacturing centres in Warrnambool and Mount Gambier in South Australia, both of which employed about 3000 people.

The company is the latest in a string of retailers to close their doors as tough trading conditions continue.

Cult Australian designer clothing brand Sass & Bide announced the business would shut down all its physical and online stores within weeks.

Nine.com.au has contacted Fletcher Jones for comment.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.