Sydney tells 30,000 to evacuate due to floods

Some areas of the Australian city have gotten almost 6 feet of rain in a 24-hour period, causing roads to flood and dams to overflow. This is the fourth major flood in Sydney in the past 18 months. The city of 5 million has endured three days of torrential downpour, and rain is forecast for the rest of the week.

How are rescue efforts going? Emergency services are getting hundreds of calls for help. The storms trapped a cargo ship with 21 crew members at sea after its power went out. Tug boats are preparing to try to drag the ship to safer waters, but so far, plans to airlift the crew to safety have proved too risky because of high winds. Officials said engineers on board may be able to repair the ship.

Dig deeper: Read Charissa Koh’s report in The Sift on the record floods that hit Sydney last March.