Police today asked all residents of an isolated Australian community facing record flooding to evacuate, warning it was expected to worsen over the weekend.

“We urge all remaining residents to evacuate the Burketown community as soon as possible,” police in the state of Queensland, in northeastern Australia, said in a statement posted on social media.

The elderly and small children were evacuated first, he clarified, adding that there was a problem with the drainage systems due to the flooding and that electricity would be cut later in the day.

Helicopters and other aircraft have already evacuated 53 of the most vulnerable people living in the community, which has about 200 residents, authorities said.

Images broadcast by television media show flooded buildings and large areas of land turned into lakes, with only the tops of trees visible.

“Probably” 100 people remain in the community, which is about 1,000 miles from the Queensland capital of Brisbane, state police chief Tom Armitt said.

Helicopters evacuated others during the day, he said in statements he made to the ABC television network.

After torrential rains, which have since subsided, water levels in the Albert River, which runs through the community, have surpassed record levels set in March 2011 when they reached 6.78 metres, according to the Queensland Bureau of Meteorology.

Yesterday, Friday, the waters exceeded 7 meters and it is expected that they will not reach their maximum level before Sunday, he added.

Australia has been experiencing heavy rainfall for the past two years due to the La Niña weather phenomenon that has intensified in the Pacific.

But the national weather service is predicting “drier and warmer” weather for the coming months as La Niña draws to a close.

In March 2022, the coastal areas of the east coast of Australia were hit by severe storms accompanied by torrential rains, resulting in the loss of more than 20 lives.

Flash floods swept across parts of eastern Australia later that year, displacing residents from Sydney in July and destroying homes in country towns in November.