The Australian government has declared the recent devastating floods in the state of New South Wales on the east coast a natural disaster.
In this way, emergency funds for the affected areas should be released more quickly.
The situation is particularly bad in the greater Sydney area, where huge amounts of rain have fallen since Friday.
In just four days, more precipitation fell there than in London in a whole year, meteorologists calculated.
In total, there was an evacuation order for 50,000 people by Tuesday morning, according to the Australian broadcaster ABC.
Hundreds of residents had requested help during the night.
The emergency services moved out again and again to empty houses and save people.
Almost 20,000 households were without electricity.
Entire areas were under a meter of water.
Many citizens were completely desperate.
"We will sell.
We can't go through this again," the media quoted as saying a man named Darren Morgan whose home in the suburb of Lansvale was hit by flash floods twice in 48 hours.
record rainfall
A powerful low-pressure area between Australia's east coast and the North Island of New Zealand is responsible for the rain masses, which is driving humid air and heavy waves onto the coast of New South Wales.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is returning from various summits in Europe on Tuesday, wanted to travel to the disaster area as soon as possible.
In March, there were devastating floods in Sydney and large parts of New South Wales and Queensland.
Many regions are still suffering from the devastating effects of historic floods and are now being flooded again.