Death toll from Australia floods rises to 20

By Recep Sakar

MELBOURNE (AA) - The death toll from floods battering Australia’s east coast has risen to 20 as bodies of a man and a woman were discovered in floodwaters in Sydney on Tuesday.

Local media quoted police as saying that the pair were believed to be a missing mother and son whose car was abandoned in a stormwater canal.

Thousands of Sydney residents have been asked evacuate their homes, and the weather bureau has warned of “a tough 48 hours ahead.”

For days, intense rainfall in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW) has brought widespread destruction, leaving thousands displaced and sweeping away property and livestock.

"The catastrophic flooding in Queensland and New South Wales are an unfortunate reminder that natural disasters are increasing in their frequency and intensity, with devastating impacts on communities," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a virtual summit.

He said the "destruction and devastation" in the Northern Rivers is well beyond anything previously experienced," adding that more than AU$1 billion have been directed to NSW and Queensland in support for small business, primary producers and local governments, besides individual and family payments.

Morrison said the government "will stand with" the communities affected "as they clean-up and rebuild, now and in the months and years ahead."