Flash floods cut off Australian towns, as more rain set to fall
Heavy rain in Australia's southeast triggered flash flooding and cut off towns on May 21, 2025, stranding some residents, as authorities issued snap evacuation orders with rivers staying above danger levels. Emergency personnel on boats were seen ferrying residents in the area near the town of Taree in New South Wales. Rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, were the worst hit from the downpour, with some areas receiving more than four months worth of rain over the past 24 hours. In an update, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said some areas could receive up to 300 mm (12 inches) of rain over the next 24 hours, three times the mean total for May.
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION / REUTERS
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00:00We've seen record level rains and flooding of the Manning River and this is having an impact on of
00:23course the emergency services. We're seeing a number of rescues take place. Some of those
00:27rescues we know about. Some of course we discover as we move into particular streets where somebody
00:33had been waiting and had not made contact. Be patient with us, you are a priority for us and we will get to you.
00:52We've got a situation here where the rain really has been falling quite heavily and quite
00:57hard and it hasn't been moving away. Part of that is because the ground is so saturated,
01:02another part is also because the rivers are swollen. We've been very clear in terms of
01:08giving information to communities and getting that information out quickly.
01:11So the past 24 hours, 284 rescues. Since midnight alone there's been 150 rescues that have been
01:31undertaken. We have seen an enormous amount of rainfall over the Hunter and the Mid North Coast area.
01:38We have significant amounts of rainfall, 200 to 300 millimetres of rain that we've already
01:54experienced in the Hunter and the Mid North Coast. We're expecting from the Bureau's indications and
02:00predictions that there is another 24 to 48 hours of this rainfall, again of a similar amount,
02:05approximately 200 millimetres of rain. They'll continue to create localised flash flooding.
02:11Any low-lying areas will be seen flooding as well and this system is slowly moving to the north.
02:18We are prioritising those rescue operations, as you've heard from the Minister, in terms of we do know we've got people on roofs, we're in contact with most of those people and we're prioritising, continue to prioritise the greatest requirements of those rescue operations and we'll continue to do so.
