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Land beneath: Camden Sports Club staff wade through the floodwaters
Photo: MUHAMMAD FAROOQ / AFP
After severe storms, Australia does not come to rest: in the metropolis of Sydney, thousands of people have again been asked to get to safety.
Heavy rain has led to new flooding, especially in the south-west of the country's largest city, the authorities said.
Numerous streets, for example in the suburb of Camden, were under water.
Many schools in the New South Wales region remained closed.
There were evacuation orders for about a dozen suburbs.
The storms in Australia's largest city tore down bridges and the roof of a supermarket, damaged countless houses and washed away cars.
A man and a woman were washed away in their car by masses of water, Sydney police said.
They could only be recovered dead.
Wettest start to the year in Sydney since weather records began
Meteorologists warned of flash flooding as a result of "intense rainfall and a very dangerous thunderstorm" specifically in Sydney and Hawkesbury and in the Blue Mountains.
The wet weather is expected to continue, said Dean Narramore of the Bureau of Meteorology.
"There are hard 24 hours or even 48 hours ahead of us," Australian media quoted the expert as saying.
"And even if the rain stops on Wednesday and Thursday, the rivers will still be flooded."
Meteorologists spoke of the wettest start of the year in Sydney since weather records began in 1858. Since January 1, almost 822 millimeters of rain have fallen - that's 822 liters per square meter.
The record for the same period was 783 millimeters in 1956. For comparison: the average rainfall over a whole year in Germany is 700 to 800 millimeters.
Since late February, a slow-moving low-pressure system had already caused historic flooding in many parts of Queensland and New South Wales.
In total, more than 20 people have died.
bbr/dpa/AFP
