Floods strand thousands in Australia

RISING floodwaters stranded more than 50 000 people in eastern Australia yesterday, as torrential rain pummelled water-logged towns for a second day and engorged rivers swallowed roads, leaving two dead.

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Police have pulled two bodies from floodwaters on the Mid North Coast, a river-braided region of rugged hills and fertile valleys about 400km north of Sydney.

Authorities launched a major search-and-rescue mission as people clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges to escape the tide of muddy water.

The storms have in some areas dumped more than half a year’s worth of rain over just three days, the government weather bureau said.

“I must also say that we're bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community,” New South Wales (NSW) state premier Chris Minns told reporters yesterday.

The town of Kempsey - a farming hub on the banks of the Macleay River - had been cut off with little warning, Mayor Kinne Ring said.

“You often think of rain on tin roof as relaxing, but at the moment it is deafening and horrible,” Ring said.

“The downpours are torrential and every time it rains, you wonder what is going to happen next.”