Tens of thousands of Australians fled from their homes and authorities evacuated a hospital on Wednesday as more torrential rains battered the east coast.

Thirteen people have been killed, the latest four deaths recorded in the worst-hit town of Lismore in New South Wales state, since the extreme weather arrived late last week, submerging town centres, washing away homes and cutting power lines.

The storm was expected to hit Sydney, home to more than 5 million people, late on Wednesday and warnings were issued for possible major flooding of rivers in the city’s west.

In Lismore in the north of the state, the bodies of two women aged in their 80s and a man in his 70s were discovered in their flooded homes, and another man was found floating in the street in the town centre.

More deaths were expected as police check houses as waters recede.

In nearby Ballina, the main hospital was evacuated. State Premier Dominic Perrottet, who flew over the flooded towns on Wednesday, said 17 local government areas had been declared disaster zones in an “unprecedented situation”, and urged people in Sydney to evacuate if they are given the order by emergency crews.

The wild storm cell has been making its way down from Queensland state, into neighbouring New South Wales, and rivers in Sydney were expected to start peaking on Wednesday evening.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted by this event,” the New South Wales emergency services minister, Stephanie Cooke, told broadcaster ABC. “It is not over by any stretch of the imagination.”

Source: Tap News Agency