Storm havoc causes Chaos in Australia*

Barbara McMahon in Sydney
Sunday June 10, 2007
The Observer

Australia's worst storm in 30 years has lashed the country's east coast,
killing at least seven people and leaving a trail of chaos and destruction.

The bodies of a couple and their three young children were recovered
yesterday. They died after a section of road collapsed under their car
near Somersby in New South Wales, sending the vehicle plunging down an
embankment into a swollen river.

An elderly couple died after their car was swept off a bridge by flash
floods in the Hunter Valley. A man seen being swept into a storm drain
in the town of Newcastle is still missing.

A coal freighter that beached on a sandbank north of Sydney, sparking
fears of an environmental disaster, was still intact last night despite
being pounded by heavy breakers for more than two days. Carrying 700
tonnes of oil and 38 tonnes of diesel, the 225-metre Panama-registered
ship Pasha Bulker, whose crew have been airlifted to safety, was boarded
yesterday by a salvage crew which reported that its hull was still intact.

A woman in New South Wales was trapped when a tree crashed through the
roof of her house and landed on her while she slept. Fire crews had to
cut off the end of her bed to pull her to safety because they were
unable to lift the tree.