
Rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, were the worst hit from the downpour, with some areas receiving more than four months worth of rain over the past 24 hours.
"We have seen an enormous amount of rainfall," New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib told reporters.
"We've got a situation here where the rain really has been falling quite heavily and quite hard, and it hasn't been moving away. Part of that is because the ground is saturated and another part is also because the rivers are swollen."
In its latest update, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said some areas could receive up to 300 mm (12 inches) of rain over the next 24 hours, three times the mean total for May.
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