Around 18,000 people in Australia have had to leave their homes after days of heavy rain caused severe flooding in the state of New South Wales (NSW) on the country's east coast. The water damaged houses, flooded roads and left some people without power or drinking water. 

The heavy rain started on 18 March. In some places nearly 90 centimetres of rain fell - more than three times the average amount for the whole of March. This caused rivers to burst their banks and dams to overflow. It was the worst flooding in sixty years.