Heavy rain on the east coast Australia Over the weekend they caused the worst floods in half a century in some parts of the country, officials said Sunday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and damaging hundreds of homes.

First New South Wales, Gladys Periglion, Rains across the state, with a population of 8 million in Australia, were worse than initially expected, especially in the low-lying areas of the Northwest Sydney.

“Yesterday, we expected this to be only an event in 20 years, and now it looks like an event in 50 years,” Periglian told a television conference.

Some parts of northwestern Sydney were ordered to evacuate homes at midnight as flash floods caused widespread destruction. Late on Sunday, another 1,000 people were asked to leave.

Pictures on television and social media showed massive flooding of homes, roads and road infrastructure. Emergency services estimate the total number of damaged homes is “hundreds”.

Several major highways across the state were closed and many schools suspended classes on Monday.

Chief Minister Scott Morrison In a post Facebook Federal financial aid announced for victims.

The flood is in stark contrast to the devastating wildfires that hit Australia in late 2019 and early 2020, when nearly 7% of New South Wales was burned.

Evacuation and flood risk consultations have been set up in about 13 areas in New South Wales, including Hunter, one of Australia’s leading wine regions. Several dams, including Sydney’s main water supply, Warrakamba, have exceeded their capacity to raise the river.