Authorities in Australia have started the clean-up in the flood-ravaged southeast coast after flash flooding claimed five lives and stranded tens of thousands of residents.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said conditions remained critical with flood and evacuation warnings in place as he thanked volunteers and emergency response workers for rescuing people round the clock in “dangerous and exhausting” conditions.
“We’re continuing to work closely across federal, state and local governments to make sure Australians get the support they need now and through recovery,” he said in a post on X.
The emergency services agency said damage assessments were under way in New South Wales’ hard-hit mid-north coast region after floods this week cut off towns, swept away livestock and destroyed homes.
It estimated that at least 10,000 properties may have been damaged. Conditions had improved since Friday in the affected areas of Australia’s most populous state, the agency said.
Hundreds of flood-hit residents, however, were still in evacuation centres, State Emergency Services commissioner Mike Wassing said at a media conference in Sydney, with 52 flood rescues being made overnight.
The Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales have been particularly hard hit, with major flooding impacting several rural towns. The Mid North Coast region also witnessed further heavy rainfall throughout Thursday.
Several casualties were reported due to the flash flooding. Near Taree, more than 300 km north of Sydney, the body of a man in his 80s was found in a flooded home.
A second body, believed to be that of a missing man in his 30s, was discovered in floodwaters on the Mid North Coast.
A 60-year-old woman was found dead in her vehicle in West of Coffs Harbour. Police reported that the woman had been warned against driving through floodwaters by an officer late on Wednesday, but she became trapped and called for help.
Emergency services were unable to reach her in time. Police said they were still searching for a missing man.
“This natural disaster has been terrible for this community,” New South Wales premier Chris Minns said during a media briefing.
“There’s 140 flood warnings, 50,000 people are in the range where they have been asked to prepare to evacuate and could be isolated, and there’s been 9,500 properties in the direct vicinity. So, we’re far from out of the woods here.”
More than 100 schools were closed on Thursday, while thousands of properties remained without power.
Cundletown in the Mid North Coast has been entirely cut off by floods, said Nicole Sammut, a nurse caring for 67 elderly residents at an aged care home, which is also being used as a shelter by emergency teams.
“I came to work on Tuesday and haven’t left,” Ms Sammut told Reuters.
“We are up on a hill but behind us is all water. We are isolated. I’ve never seen the water this high.”
The Manning River in nearby Taree had exceeded a 100-year-old flood record, emergency authorities said.
Sherinah Peck was evacuated at 2 a.m. on Wednesday from her farmhouse on the river, but her belongings were swept away, with some furniture later washing up on the coast.
As she searched Old Bar beach on Thursday, strewn with debris and dead and lost livestock, for a treasured bicycle that belonged to her late mother, Peck was knocked over by a cow and injured, she said.
“The cow was distressed – a wave came. I had to scramble up the sand,” she told Reuters.
A slow-moving coastal trough has dumped about four months of rain over the past two days, cutting off entire towns and stranding residents on roofs and the second floors of their homes, as rescuers struggle to access the area by boat or air.
Minns apologised to people who had to wait for several hours for rescue crews, but assured efforts had been ramped up with 2,500 emergency services personnel being deployed.
Around 590 flood rescues had been carried out, dozens of them by helicopter, NSW Police said. The helicopters have also been directing more boat rescues.
“Some significant rescues have been made but unfortunately we have lost a number of lives,” assistant commissioner David Waddell said in a press conference.
