MELBOURNE – Heavy rains along Australia’s east coast over the weekend brought the worst flooding in half a century in some areas, authorities said Sunday, forcing thousands to evacuate and damaging hundreds of houses.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the downpour across the state, was worse than initially expected, especially for low-lying areas in Sydney’s northwest.
People in parts of Sydney’s northwest were ordered to flee their houses in the middle of the night as fast-moving waters caused widespread destruction. Late on Sunday, about another 1,000 people were asked to evacuate, after Berejiklian said that some 4,000 people may be asked to leave their houses.
Emergency services estimate the total number of damaged houses to be “in the hundreds”.(Reuters)
