Waterfalls were plunging down the famous Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, in central Australia for first time in decades Saturday as heavy rains hit central and southern regions just days after raging bushfires destroyed dozens of homes. One man drowned in Alice Springs when the usually dry Todd River became a raging torrent. The 24-year-old man was riding a rubber tube down the fast flowing water when he lost control, dpa reported. The Northern Territory News said Weather Bureau forecaster Graeme King expected heavy rainfall will continue for several days and could break records for central Australia. Many remote desert communities are cut off by rising floodwaters. The heavy rain is expected to continue until Monday. Heavy rain is falling over areas near Adelaide where bushfires destroyed 27 homes last weekend. The Bureau of Meteorology said the wild weather swing was caused by a tropical low pressure system over northern Australia moving inland over central and southern Australian, bringing the heaviest rains in forty years. More than 400 millimeters fell in 24 hours in north-eastern Australia last Thursday, and more than 100 millimeters fell in the bushfire struck areas of South Australia on Friday. Parts of Victoria, which also had severe bushfires last weekend, are now facing flooding as the vast low pressure front moves eastwards. Northern Queensland is being warned by the Bureau the first cyclone of the season could hit the coast in the next few days.
