One dead, 50,000 stranded in eastern Australia floods

Sydney: Torrential rain continued to lash eastern Australia on Thursday, swelling already engorged rivers, engulfing roads and leaving almost 50,000 p...

Sydney: Torrential rain continued to lash eastern Australia on Thursday, swelling already engorged rivers, engulfing roads and leaving almost 50,000 people stranded.

Police found the body of a 63-year-old man inside a flooded home in the rural hamlet of Moto, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Sydney.

Others clambered on to their roofs to escape the rising waters as authorities dispatched helicopters, boats and drones on a major search and rescue mission.

The storms have already dumped more than four months' of rain across parts of New South Wales in just two days.

"I must also say that we're bracing for more bad news in the next 24 hours. This natural disaster has been terrible for this community," state premier Chris Minns told reporters.