MAN DROWNS IN SYDNEY FLOOD, COPS REPORT

A man has died in floodwaters in Sydney, police said on Wednesday, marking the first known death in a week of torrential rain which has battered the eastern Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), Annika Burgess reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The unidentified man was found trapped in his car in the city's northwest on Wednesday afternoon, police said in a statement. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian gave her condolences in parliament, not long after a morning press conference where she said the fact there had been no deaths in the state's flood crisis was "simply a miracle."

The rain had eased and blue skies emerged over parts of NSW on Wednesday, but authorities have warned that some areas were still facing a significant flood risk. "We're certainly not out of the woods," Berejiklian told reporters at the morning press briefing.

"Thousands and thousands of people are still on evacuation warnings, that the rivers will continue to swell, that catchments will continue to experience flows of water not seen in 50 years and in some places 100 years."

Around 24,000 residents were still under evacuation orders across the state on Wednesday morning and 60,000 remained on alert to evacuate after extreme weather drenched the country's east, according to figures from Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency. On the mid-north coast, communities have faced the worst flooding in almost a century.

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