Sydney faces more rain as death toll from floods rises

New weather system could bring another round of heavy rain; deaths climb to 17

MELBOURNE • Sydney, Australia’s most populous city that has been drenched in rain for days, braced itself for more heavy downpours yesterday as the death toll from flooding across the country’s east rose to 17.

A wild weather system that dumped more than a year’s worth of rainfall over a week in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW) brought widespread destruction, leaving thousands of people in the states displaced and sweeping away property, livestock and roads.

Seventeen people have been killed since the deluge began, including a Queensland woman whose body was found on Saturday, according to police.