Surf and wellness utopia Byron Bay hit by catastrophic flooding following mini-hurricane overnight, “The entire town is under water up to your waist…police now stopping people from entering!”

"The word unprecedented has been used many times but I don’t think anyone has seen Byron flooded like this is living memory."

The tortured golden goose that is Australia’s Byron Bay, “a glittering dream metastasized into a malignant nightmare”, is underwater following flash floods after the joint was hit by a mini-hurricane overnight, dumping a foot of rain.

“The entire town is under water up to your waist at some points, with police now stopping people from entering,” writes Byron real estate agent Travis Lipshush in The Guardian. “I cannot remember sunshine. It has been raining steadily since spring.”

“The word unprecedented has been used many times but I don’t think anyone has seen Byron flooded like this is living memory,” Byron Shire Councillor Cate Coorey told The Echo. “I urge people to be safe. Everybody keep an eye out for each other and check on your neighbours.

Nearby Ballina has set-up evacuation centres but council staff can’t open ‘em because of the nutso weather.

“The unknown is what going to fall from the sky. That’s where it becomes hard to predict – the rain bombs we’ve had overnight the cyclonic winds we are experiencing now and overnight,” said Ballina mayor Sharon Cadwallader.

“Growing up here you are used to flooding – you build your homes up high or elevated on poles. But this is something else – a disaster that never ends,” says Travis Lipshush. “We first heard first these events were once in 100 years, then once in 500 years and then in 1,000 years. This is a microcosm of the impending doom humanity will face. Heed our warning, we must change our habits and policy – though it may already be too late.”

Crikey.