Neil Plummer, from the country’s National Climate Centre, described rainfall during the southern hemisphere autumn as "an absolute shocker", the Independent reported.
The basin produces 41% of Australia’s fruit, vegetables and grain. But flows of water last month into the two rivers that irrigate the basin were the lowest since records began 117 years ago.
Australia’s worst drought in a century has forced about 10,000 farming families off the land, the report said, and threatened the economic viability of some agricultural towns.
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