On March 22, local time, southeastern Australia encountered a new round of heavy rains, and the "once in a century" floods in northern Sydney further flooded.
Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate, and extreme weather also blocked vaccine promotion plans.
Australia’s most populous coastal state of New South Wales has experienced torrential rains that lasted for several days, and parts of northwestern Sydney are experiencing what officials call “probably the worst flooding in decades”.
The north-central coast of New South Wales has been particularly affected. The governor of the state, Gladys Berekiklian, announced that the region is experiencing a "once in a century" disaster.
On the afternoon of the 20th local time, the Wallegamba Dam, which provides most of the drinking water for Sydney, overflowed, and the water level is expected to reach the highest level since 1961.
Officials from the Emergency Services Department said that as of now, 18,000 people across the state have received evacuation orders.
The authorities warned that there may be "life-threatening" situations, although there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries so far.
(Produced by Wu Rui)
Editor in charge: [Liu Pai]