---
title: "Torrential rain ravages Australian towns, thousands brace for isolation"
description: "Torrential rain pummelled Australia's southeast on Thursday, triggering flash flooding and forcing officials to issue fresh evacuation orders, while 50,000 residents were warned to prepare to isolate with more downpours expected over the next 24 hours."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-22-torrential-rain-ravages-australian-towns-thousands-brace-for-isolation/"
published: "2025-05-22T04:51:49"
updated: "2025-05-22T04:51:51"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 389
---

# Torrential rain ravages Australian towns, thousands brace for isolation

> Torrential rain pummelled Australia's southeast on Thursday, triggering flash flooding and forcing officials to issue fresh evacuation orders, while 50,000 residents were warned to prepare to isolate with more downpours expected over the next 24 hours.

By Reuters · Published 22 May 2025, 06:51 SAST · Updated 22 May 2025, 06:51 SAST

## Key points
- As New South Wales grapples with a deluge that has turned rural towns into watery wastelands, Premier Chris Minns warns that the only thing rising faster than the floodwaters is the community's need for rescue, with over 50,000 residents on high alert and a grim tally of missing persons and destroyed homes.
- Major flooding devastates rural towns in New South Wales, with ongoing heavy rainfall predicted.
- A 63-year-old man was found dead in Taree, as authorities report two men and one woman missing.
- New South Wales Premier Chris Minns warns of worsening conditions, with 50,000 residents advised to prepare for evacuation.
- Over 100 schools closed and thousands without power as emergency services respond to the crisis.

## Content

Major flooding hit several rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, with most of the Mid North Coast region facing further heavy rainfall through Thursday.

Police said the body of a 63-year-old man was found in a flooded home near Taree, more than 300 km (186 miles) north of Sydney. The rural town is one of the worst-hit by the floods, that have washed away farms and destroyed homes, roads and bridges.

"We're bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community," New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said during a media briefing.

"There's 140 flood warnings, 50,000 people are in the range where they have been asked to prepare to evacuate and could be isolated, and there's been 9,500 properties in the direct vicinity. So, we're far from out of the woods here."

Two men and one woman have been reported missing in separate incidents, authorities said.

More than 100 schools were closed on Thursday, while thousands of properties remained without power.

MORE HEAVY RAIN

A slow-moving coastal trough has dumped about four months of rain over the past two days, cutting off entire towns and stranding residents on roofs and the second storeys of their homes, as rescuers struggled to access the area by boat or air.

Minns apologised to people who had to wait for several hours for rescue crews, but assured efforts had been ramped up with 2,500 emergency services personnel being sent out.

Television images showed a woman winched to a helicopter from a flooded property, while several people were seen being rescued on boats.

Jason Herbert, the manager at a campground and boat shed in Port Macquarie, said the flooding was worse than he expected, and that it would take more time to assess damages.

"We prep for a moderate flood, which we can do. We lift fridges up over a metre, but they've all gone last night," Herbert told ABC News.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology forecast that some areas could receive up to 200 mm (8 inches) of rain through Friday, triggering life-threatening flash flooding, before the weather system is expected to weaken and track south toward Sydney.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates and Sonali Paul)