30,000 Sydney residents issued flood evacuation orders

More than 30,000 Sydney residents wereissued flood evacuation orders on Monday as heavy rains continued to lash the city, threatening its worst flooding in 18 months. Those affected were told to either leave their homes or to be ready to do so.

Authorities warned of more rains on Monday before a respite on Tuesday. They also urged people to comply when asked to leave their homes and not drive on flooded roads.

"The ground is saturated, the rivers are fast flowing, the dams are overflowing," said State Emergency Services commissioner Carlene York. "It is particularly dangerous out there."

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings for minor to major flooding across eastern New South Wales. 

Several places in the state were hit with about a month's rain over the weekend, causing dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks.

This is the fourth flooding emergency in a year-and-half for the city of roughly 5 million.

"The latest information we have is that there's a very good chance that the flooding will be worse than any of the other three floods that those areas had in the last 18 months," Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

'These events are becoming more common'

Climate change is seen as a contributing factor for the severe weather events in Australia as is the La Nina weather phenomenon bringing increased rainfall to the country.

Australia has especially been at the mercy of changing global weather patterns. It has commonly seen droughts, deadly bushfires and bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef. The higher temperatures have been unleashing more rain resulting in frequent flooding.

"We're seeing these flood events more regularly, there's no doubt about that," New South Wales state premier Dominic Perrottet said. "To see what we're seeing right across Sydney, there's no doubt these events are becoming more common."

NASA launch delayed

The Australian government offered more troops and activated the satellite emergency management system to help with flood relief efforts.

The floods inundated roads and caused at least one mobile home to topple over, while others stood in knee-high water. No deaths have been reported.

Inclement weather forced Monday's scheduled launch of a NASA rocket from the Arnhem Space Centre in Australia's Northern Territory to be delayed by 24 hours, according to the operator Equatorial Launch Australia.

Meanwhile, local media reports said an operation was on to rescue 21 crew members from a cargo ship. The ship had lost power south of Sydney and risked being swept ashore.

ss/msh (Reuters, dpa, AP, AFP)