TAREE: Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on Friday, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help.

Four bodies have been pulled from vast tides of floodwater engulfing parts of northern New South Wales, a fertile region of rivers and valleys some 400kms up the coast from Sydney.

Salvage crews launched a major clean-up operation as waters receded a bit on Friday, surveying the damage from half a year’s worth of rain dumped in just three days.

Kinne Ring, mayor of the flood-stricken farming town of Kempsey, said dozens of businesses had been swamped.

State Emergency Serv­ice boss Dallas Burnes said more than 2,000 workers had been deployed on rescue and recovery missions.

“A real focus for us at the moment will be resupplying the isolated communities,” he said, adding that 50,000 people were still stranded.

People clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges before helicopters winched them away.

The storms have dumped more than six months’ worth of rain over three days, the government weather bureau has said, smashing flood-height records in some areas.

“These are horrific circumstances,” Prime Min­ister Anthony Albanese said Friday as he travelled into the disaster zone.

“There’s been massive damage to infrastructure and we’re going to have to all really pitch in.”

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2025