Sydney Floods Burden 50,000 People Around Australia's Largest City

50,000 people in and around Sydney were given evacuation orders and warning to prepare to abandon their homes.

Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia's largest city in a flood emergency that was causing trouble for 50,000 people, officials said Tuesday.

Emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes in the Sydney area, State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan said.

Days of torrential rain have caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing a fourth flood emergency in 16 months to parts of the city of 5 million people.