SYDNEY (AP) – Heavy rainfall is forecast to ease over the east coast of Australia, but floodwaters will linger for days in the state of New South Wales, where 15,000 people nervously waited for potential evacuation orders on Tuesday.
Some 18,000 residents of Australia’s most populous state have fled their homes since last week, with warnings that the clean-up could last until April.
Gladys Berejiklian, Prime Minister of New South Wales, said on Tuesday that several sides were still occupying large parts of the state.
Some parts of the state recorded two-thirds of their annual rainfall in less than a week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the emergency rains were expected to ease late Wednesday, but “floodwaters have been persistent for some time.”
“I am advised that the rain and flood situation remains dynamic and extremely complex,” Morrison said.
The air is expected to clear over parts of Sydney and the coast in the north late Tuesday.
“It’s almost impossible to believe, but we’ll see blue skies and sunshine just later this afternoon in west Sydney and on the Mid-North Coast,” said government meteorologist Agata Imielska.
“It is very important to remember that although the blue sky and the sunshine are returning, floods will continue and the risk of flooding will continue,” Imielska added.
Morrison said the New South Wales government had already asked 1,000 defense personnel to clean up after the floods.
The torrential rains stretched along the coast of New South Wales across the Queensland state border in the north and almost as far as Victoria in the south.