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Australian PM announces disaster relief funding for flood-stricken Tasmania

Xinhua, June 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday inspected the damage caused by record-breaking floods which have left at least one person dead in the state of Tasmania.

Hundreds of homes have been damaged while at least two Australians are still missing after heavy storms battered the state and caused widespread flooding in and around the state's north earlier this week.

The Tasmanian government has already predicted the damage bill to surpass 75 million U.S dollars, and Turnbull said on Thursday that the federal government would be picking up "75 percent of the cost."

He added that taking precautions to prevent a similar amount of damage being sustained in the future should also be considered when allocating the state and federal funds, but praised the resilience of the Tasmanian people in the wake of the disaster.

"The way the community has pulled together is characteristically Australian," Turnbull said from Launceston.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten also flew into Tasmania Thursday to inspect the damage, but local authorities said the full extent still wasn't known, as a lot of places were still at-risk from sustaining further damage.

Tasmania's State Emergency Service (SES) acting director Nick Wilson said the fast-moving water was still dangerous even though the flooding hit its peak on Wednesday, and urged local residents to be wary of getting too close to any running water.

"The dangerous nature of floodwaters and their unpredictability needs to be clearly understood, because this will continue for some days," Wilson said.

The search continues for an 81-year-old man and a 64-year-old man, however Tasmania Police have conceded it is unlikely they'll be found alive.

If they are found to have passed away, the death toll in Tasmania would rise to three, after a 75-year-old woman was found deceased in her house which flooded earlier this week.

Authorities have said the floods are the worst experienced by the state since 1929. Endit