Thousands of people in the Sydney suburbs are expected to be evacuated as the area deals with its worst flooding in 60 years after days of rain.
Australia’s New South Wales has been pummeled with three days of rain as the precipitation is forecasted to continue until Wednesday. The surge has already forced almost 20,000 people to evacuate from low-lying areas, Reuters reported, citing the New South Wales (NSW) emergency services.
“Flooding is likely to be higher than any floods since Nov 1961,” NSW emergency services said in a tweet late Sunday local time.
Videos showed that floods caused by the downpour swept houses, vehicles and farm animals and overtook roads, bridges and farms. Rivers and dams have overflowed, and dozens of schools have shut down in the flooding that has affected about a third of Australia’s population, BBC reported.
Emergency responders reported at least 500 rescues, including people from vehicles.
Sydney, in particular, saw its wettest day of the year with 4.4 inches of rain, and other areas saw up to 35 inches in the past six days, according to government data cited by Reuters.
More rain was still expected along the east coast as a tropical low over northern Western Australia and a coastal trough near NSW are melding together, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
“These are very, very serious and very severe storms and floods, and it’s a very complex weather system too … so this is a very testing time,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told radio station 2GB on Monday, local time.