A massive storm created waterfalls on Ayers Rock at the heart of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in central Australia on Christmas night.
This “twice-a-century weather event” forced the evacuation of dozens of residents after a record amount of rainfall led to the closing of the park, according to BBC News.
According to police, as many as 25 houses were flooded in the remote town of Kintore as a result of the storm.
“There’s a significant number of houses that have been affected by flooding in some capacity,” said acting superintendent Pauline Vicary, per the Daily Star.
Papunya, another town affected by the storm, was completely cut off.
Yulara, which is the closest community to Uluru, was engulfed by the rainfall.
The park was closed the day after Christmas due to the flooded roads.
“There’s a lot of water…coming off the rock and what that does is just channels across the ring road around Uluru, some of those roads there were flooded by about 300 to 400 millimeters (12 to 16 inches) of rain,” Mike Misso, the park manager, said, per BBC News.
According to Sky News, Uluru usually only gets 22 centimeters (8.66 inches) of rain per year on average. However, this Christmas storm brought more than 23 cm (9 inches) of rain in just 24 hours.
The park has been reopened, but offiicials are encouraging people to take precautions as surface water remains on the nearby roads, BBC News noted.
Uluru is one of Australia’s top tourist attractions.
It’s visited by as many as 500,000 tourists a year.
Videos of the weather event were shared on social media.
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