Floods in Australia: Thousands of people in Sydney must evacuate amid record rain

The east coast of Australia is hit by record rainfall, with flood warnings and a natural disaster being declared for parts of the most populous state, New South Wales (NSW).

Details: NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at an information session on Sunday in Western Sydney that a flood event had not been seen for half a century, while parts of the Mid-North Coast were a ‘one-to-100’ annual event ‘.

• Thousands are under evacuation orders in NSW. “Potentially another 4,000 people could be asked to evacuate in and around parts of Western Sydney,” Berejiklian added.
• NSW Minister of Emergency Services David Elliott said at an information session on Sunday that 16 natural disaster declarations had been issued in NSW, and that there could be more.

Remarkable: Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told Sky News on Sunday that the floods would affect the COVID-19 vaccine. “It is clear that disruption of many freight and logistics movements in NSW is expected as a result of these floods,” he said.

What they say: Agata Imielska, Australian Meteorological Bureau (BOM), told reporters the regions of the NSW Mid-North Coast and Hunter had already seen rainfall records broken to almost eight centimeters on Saturday.

• “This is a very important, record-breaking event with the rainfall we have seen,” Imielska said.
• Although no deaths have been reported from the flood, Elliott said “we are moving ever closer to the inevitable fate.”

The whole picture: A large part of Australia is hit by heavy rains or under severe weather warnings. The state of Queensland was also in danger of instant flow, with 4.5 inches of rain falling in some parts Sunday.

• The usually dry Central Australia was another region threatened by heavy rains due to flash floods.

Flash back: A year ago, Australia struggled under catastrophic forest fires.

Editor’s note: this article has been constantly updated with new details.