Bureau of Meteorology

Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia's largest city in a flood emergency that was impacting 50,000 people, officials said Tuesday.

Emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes in the Sydney area, State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan said.

More than 30,000 residents of Sydney and its surrounds have been told to evacuate or prepare to abandon their homes Monday as Australia's largest city faces its fourth and possibly worst round of flooding in 18 months.

Torrential rain since Friday caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing another flood emergency for the city of 5 million people.

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power, buildings were battered and trees were uprooted as a vast stretch of the west Australian coast was whipped by a severe storm on May 25 for the second straight day.

Bushfires burned dangerously out of control on Australia's east coast on Jan. 4, fanned by high temperatures and strong winds that had firefighters battling to save lives and property, as a change in wind conditions merged several large fire fronts.

Australia may experience the hottest day in its history this week after a heat wave in the western part of the country began to move east, meteorologists have warned, quoted by the BBC.

Temperatures are likely to exceed 40 degrees Celsius in many areas on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Australia's most populous state of New South Wales on Tuesday imposed water restrictions for the first time in a decade with dam levels at just over 50% due to a prolonged drought, reported Euronews.

The country's east coast has suffered through two years of below average rainfall, devastating agricultural production and stoking a political debate over the impact of climate change.

Temperatures in southern Australia topped 49 degrees on Thursday, shattering previous records as sizzling citizens received free beer and heat-stressed bats fell from trees, reported AFP.