Seven people were missing Sunday in floods that engulfed parts of normally parched central Australia, isolating resort hotels, closing roads and stopping the famous Ghan train in its tracks.
Two locals were washed away while swimming in a swollen river, and a family of five other Northern Territory residents was missing after they tried to drive through floodwaters.
The highway and the railway linking Darwin on the north coast to Adelaide in the south were impassable after days of rain.
The Todd River, normally a dry bed that divides the town of Alice Springs, was flowing for the first time in over a year. The tourist hub received more rain last week than during the whole of last year.
Hundreds of foreign tourists had their itineraries wrecked by the cancellation of the luxury Ghan train service. The train was halted when flooding washed away part of the track near Alice Springs.
The train, which runs the 3,000 kilometres between Darwin and Adelaide, had to return to Darwin to await the repair of the track.
Seven missing in central Australian floods
