10일(현지시간) 와인으로 유명한 헌터벨리를 덮친 홍수로 수천명의 시민들이 피난했다.지난 3일간 호주 동부 해안에 상륙한 폭풍으로 시드니 북부 헌터벨리는 고립됐다.최근 30년간 있었던 홍수 중 최악이라고 평가받는 이번 홍수로 8명이 익사했고, 한명은 급류에 휩쓸려 가던 중 나무에 부딪혀 사망했다. 뉴사우스웨일즈 주 정부는 이 지역을 자연재해지역으로 선포했다.존 하워드 호주 총리는 충격에 쌓인 모습으로 “이번 홍수로 피해를 입은 사람들에게 위로를 전한다”고 말을 전했다.재난 대책 본부는 헌터강 제방이 무너질 우려가 있어 5000명의 헌터벨리 메틀런드 주민들이 10일 피난했다고 전했다.군인들은 헌터강의 범람을 막기 위해 모래 주머니로 임시제방을 쌓았지만 크게 불어나는 강을 막지 못했고, 급류는 헌터벨리를 향했다.헌터 밸리의 재산 피해 여부는 여전히 집계중에 있으며, 와이너리 강 홍수 당시 피해액 보다 큰지 여부에 대해서는 정확히 알려지지 않았다.모리스 레마 뉴 사우스웨일즈 주지사는 주요 석탄 수출항이 위치한 뉴캐슬의 이번 피해는 1989년 발생했던 지진보다 더 나쁘다고 전했다.[원문기사]5,000 Australians flee flooding Thousands of Australians were evacuated from their homes on Sunday as floodwaters headed down the country's wine-rich Hunter Valley, leaving towns cut off and farms isolated like islands.A major storm battering Australia's east coast for the past three days has whipped up huge seas, which beached a coal ship, and dumped flooding rains over the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney.Eight people have drowned in the floods, the worst in 30 years in the area, which have been declared a natural disaster by the New South Wales state government. Another person was killed when a tree fell on him."I speak for every Australian in saying ... we are heart broken by the loss of lives," said Prime Minister John Howard.Around 5,000 residents from the town of Maitland in the Hunter Valley were evacuated on Sunday fearing the swollen Hunter River would break levees overnight, said emergency officials.Army soldiers were constructing sand bag levees to try and hold back the flooded Hunter River, which had swollen into a wide, brown swirling torrent of water heading down the valley.Some farmers were forced to swim their horses and cattle out of floodwaters. One farmer, chest deep in water, held a chicken above his head as he waded towards higher ground.Damage assessments of properties in the Hunter Valley were still being compiled and it was unclear how the areas famed wineries have faired in the flooding.New South Wales state premier Morris Lemma said the damage in Newcastle, one of Australia's major coal export ports, was worse than after a 1989 earthquake hit the city.