SYDNEY (AP) – Heavy rainfall is expected to ease on Australia’s east coast, but floodwaters will remain for days in New South Wales, where 15,000 people were nervously awaiting potential evacuation orders on Tuesday.
About 18,000 people in Australia’s most populous state have fled their homes last week, with warnings that cleanliness could arrive by April.
Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian of New South Wales said on Tuesday that several weather fronts continued to cover large areas of the state.
Some parts of the state recorded two-thirds of their annual rainfall in less than a week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the urgency of the rain should abate by late Wednesday, but “flood waters have been persistent for some time.”
“I am advised that the rain and flood situation remains dynamic and extremely complex,” Morrison said.
The sky is forecast to clear in parts of Sydney and the north coast by late Tuesday.
“It’s almost unbelievable, but we’ll see blue skies and sunshine even later this afternoon in western Sydney and on the northern coast of the environment,” said government meteorologist Agata Imielska.
“It is very important to remember that although we will return with the blue sky and the sun, the floods will continue and the risk of floods will continue,” Imielska added.
Morrison said the New South Wales government has already called in 1,000 defense personnel to help clean up after the floods.
The floodplain had spread along the New South Wales coast, along the Queensland border in the north and almost to the Victoria border in the south.