POURING DOWN UNDER
Australia floods send 50,000 fleeing homes with year’s worth of rain in DAYS and horses seen swimming up to their NECKS
SOME 50,000 Australians have been urged to flee their homes after a year's worth of rain fell in just a matter of days.
The deluge has wreaked havoc Down Under, forcing horses to swim through water up to their necks while residents were trapped in cars.
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Torrential rain has continued to batter the country's east coast, with some parts of Syndey being hit with eight months of rain in four days.
The biblical floods have resulted in around 50,000 residents in New South Wales being ordered to leave their homes to seek safety.
Roads have been transformed into rivers as waterways burst their banks, while the floodwater continues to rise past danger levels.
The federal government has declared the freak rain storm a natural disaster, allowing Aussies to receive emergency funding support.
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New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet warned: "This event is far from over.
"Wherever you are, please be careful when you're driving on our roads. There are still substantial risks for flash flooding.
"Ultimately if you stay you're putting your life at risk."
Rescuers have encouraged residents to take the evacuation seriously, after having to save people who were ordered to leave two days earlier.
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Emergency response teams made 100 daring rescues throughout Monday night of people trapped in cars on flooded roads and swamped homes in the Syndey area.
Crews also faced the perilous task of towing a bulk carrier ship that lost power off the city's coast while battling rough seas.
Perrottet described the response as "heroic", praising rescuers for persevering through "incredibly treacherous conditions".
He will tour the affected regions on Wednesday alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who returned to Australia on Tuesday after a week-long trip to Europe.
Horrifying footage showed towns submerged in floodwater, cattle desperately swimming to safety and locals stuck in their vehicles.
Southern parts of Sydney have been lashed by over 8inches of rain in just 24 hours, drowning desperate Aussies.
The worst flooding could be seen around the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system along Sydneys northern and western fringes.
Around 3.5inches of rain could fall over six hours in the state's mid-north coast on Tuesday, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said.
DEVASTATING DAMAGE
Some regions have already been hit by 31.5 inches of rain since Saturday, dwarfing Australia's annual average of 20 inches.
Although the destructive weather is due to ease in Sydney from today, winds of up to 56mph are set to cause further chaos.
The fierce gales have sparked fears of further casualties amid concerns that trees and powerlines may fall.
State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan warned "the threat will remain with those flood warnings for the rest of this week."
Experts say a La Niña weather phenomenon is to blame for the devastating flooding wreaking havoc across the country.
It forms when strong winds blow the warm surface waters of the Pacific away from South America and towards Indonesia, which are replaced by cold waters on the surface.
The worrying weather front has the potential to trigger rain, cyclones and cool temperatures in Australia.
Residents have been urged to begin applying for claims by the Insurance Council of Australia, despite the full extent of the damage remaining unclear.
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Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the economic impact "will be substantial", with the flooding already affecting some prices.
Australia is no stranger to extraordinary flooding - most notably in March last year, January 2020 and November 2019.
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