SYDNEY: Torrential rain continued to lash eastern Australia on Thursday (May 22), swelling already engorged rivers, engulfing roads and leaving almost 50,000 people stranded.
Police found the body of a 63-year-old man inside a flooded home in the rural hamlet of Moto, about 400km northeast of Sydney.
Others clambered onto their roofs to escape the rising waters as authorities dispatched helicopters, boats and drones on a major search and rescue mission.
The storms have already dumped more than four months’ of rain across parts of New South Wales in two days.
“I must also say that we’re bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community,” state premier Chris Minns told reporters.
The town of Kempsey – an agricultural hub on the banks of the Macleay River – had been surrounded with little warning, mayor Kinnie Ring told AFP.
“You often think of rain on tin roof as relaxing, but at the moment it is deafening and horrible,” Ring said on Thursday.
“The downpours are torrential and every time it rains, you wonder what is going to happen next.”
Ring said more than 20,000 people were isolated in her local government area alone, with many unable to access medication or supplies.
“This isn’t a flood like we have seen in quite some time.”
Minns said close to 50,000 people could be isolated by flooding across the Mid North Coast, where rivers flow off rugged hills to feed the verdant hinterland.
Authorities feared at least three people had gone missing.
