AKIPRESS.COM - Australian authorities are planning to evacuate thousands more people on Monday from flood-affected suburbs in Sydney’s west, which is set for its worst flooding in 60 years with drenching rain expected to continue for the next few days, Reuters reported.

Unrelenting rains over the past three days swelled rivers in Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), causing widespread damage and triggering calls for mass evacuations.

“We need to brace ourselves, it will be a very difficult week,” NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.

Torrential rain which has submerged large swathes of NSW is in stark contrast to the weather conditions in the same regions a year ago, when authorities were battling drought and catastrophic bushfires.

“I don’t know any time in a state history where we have had these extreme weather conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic,” Berejiklian said.

There are major floods at the fringe of Sydney, Australia

NSW's Premier just warned parts of the state were experiencing a "one in 100-year event"

How many "one in 100-year events" do we need each year for Australia to free itself from the clutches of coal, oil & gas?#climate pic.twitter.com/3JYPBCrjok

— Assaad Razzouk (@AssaadRazzouk) March 21, 2021