85,000 Australians given flood warning
SYDNEY — Floodwaters had inundated or were threatening the homes of 85,000 people around Sydney as rivers started to recede Tuesday and the heavy rains tracked north of the city.
While rain was easing across Sydney, several waterways including the Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers system on Sydney’s northern and western fringes remained at major flood levels, Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said.
Emergency responders knocked on doors overnight in Singleton and Muswellbrook, north of Sydney, to order residents to evacuate, she said.
Evacuation orders and official warnings to prepare to abandon homes were given to 85,000 people by Tuesday, up from 50,000 on Monday, New South Wales state Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
On the fifth day of the flood emergency, Perrottet warned that homes that remained dry during previous floods could be inundated this week.
Federal funding would be available to flood victims on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. When Parliament resumes on July 26, the government will propose spending $3.3 billion on disaster mitigation measures such as building higher levees, he said.
Heavy rain fell in the last 24 hours as far north as Coffs Harbor, 280 miles from Sydney, Bureau of Meteorology manager Jane Golding said.