Sydney floods impact 45,000 around Australia's largest city

SYDNEY -- Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia's largest city in a flood emergency that was threatening 45,000 people, officials said on 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 since March last year to parts of the city of 5 million people.

The New South Wales state government declared a disaster zone across more 20 local government areas overnight, activating federal government financial assistance for flood victims.

Evacuation orders and warnings to prepare to abandon homes impacted 45,000 people as of Tuesday, up from 32,000 on Monday, Sullivan said.

An emergency vehicle blocks access to the flooded Windsor Bridge on Monday on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. More than 30,000 residents of Sydney and its surrounds have been told to evacuate or prepare to abandon their homes Monday as Australia's largest city braces for what could be its worst flooding in 18 months.Mark Baker ~ Associated Press

"The weather is meant to stick around for at least today and tomorrow, and the threat will remain with those flood warnings for the rest of this week," Sullivan told Nine Network television.

Parts of southern Sydney had been lashed by nearly 8 inches of rain in 24 hours, more than 17% of the city's annual average, Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jonathan How said.

Severe weather warnings of heavy rain remained in place across Sydney's eastern suburbs on Tuesday. The warnings also extended north of Sydney along the coast and into the Hunter Valley.

The worst flooding was along the Hawkesbury-Nepean rivers system along Sydney's northern and western fringes.

"The good news is that by tomorrow afternoon, it is looking to be mostly dry but, of course, we are reminding people that these floodwaters will remain very high well after the rain has stopped," How said.

A man walks through flood waters back to his home from a fire truck Tuesday at Windsor on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia.Mark Baker ~ Associated Press

"There was plenty of rain fall overnight and that is actually seeing some rivers peak for a second time. So you've got to take many days, if not a week, to start to see these floodwaters start to recede," How added.

The wild weather and mountainous seas along the New South Wales coast thwarted plans to tow a stricken cargo ship with 21 crew members aboard to the safety of open sea.

The ship lost power after leaving port in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on Monday morning and risked being grounded by 26-foot swells and winds blowing at 34 mph against cliffs.

An attempt to tow the ship with tugboats into open ocean ended when a towline snapped late Monday, Port Authority chief executive Philip Holliday said.

The ship was maintaining its position on Tuesday farther from the coast than it had been on Monday with two anchors and the help of two tugboats. The new plan was to tow the ship to Sydney when weather and sea conditions calmed as early as Wednesday, Holliday said. The original plan had been for the ship's crew to repair their engine at sea.

"We're in a better position than we were yesterday," Holliday said. "We're in relative safety."