Eastern Australia floods

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.

There were floods in some cities, and residents had to climb to the tops of their houses, local officials said.
Nine people have been killed since the storm began last Thursday, and rescue teams are searching for four more people whose disappearance was reported today, Reuters reported.