Weeks of heavy rains lead to catastrophic flooding in Australia

#ChefsForAustralia

Eastern Australia | April 2022

Since February, eastern Australia has been hit with unprecedented amounts of rain, leaving thousands of homes underwater and forcing many to evacuate. Supporting local teams cooking, WCK is serving nourishing meals to communities impacted.

On March 29, more heavy rains burst river banks and broke levees—some areas experienced a year’s worth of rain over the course of just several days. Thousands of people recovering from devastating floods a month prior, had to once again evacuate their homes.

In the hard-hit areas of Lismore, Wardell, Woodburn, and Coraki, local teams have set up four community kitchens providing thousands of meals for neighbors in need. WCK is supporting the locally led effort including procuring kitchen equipment to scale up efforts and reach more impacted communities.

Heavy rain in Australia is most impacted by La Niña and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM)—cooler water and easterly winds bring large quantities of moisture causing above-average rainfall. Still, climate change is said to play a role in extreme flooding caused by these natural phenomena.