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Record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have left four people dead and one missing, officials said Friday as rain eased over the disaster area. 50,000 people have been isolated by flooding along the coast of New South Wales state north of Sydney after days of heavy rain. The low-pressure weather system that brought the deluge had moved further south to Sydney and its surrounds Friday.  Record floodwaters in eastern Australia, 1 dead and 3 missing Four bodies have been retrieved from floodwaters in New South Wales since Wednesday. Three of the victims had driven into floodwaters, while a man’s body had been found on the veranda of his flooded home. The latest victim was a man in his 70s whose body was found in a car in floodwater Friday near Coffs Harbour, a police statement said. The car had run off the road. A 49-year-old man remains missing after walking near a flooded road at Nymboida on Wednesday night. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Christopher Minns on Friday were inspecting devastated communities, some of which had been inundated by the highest floodwaters on record. Minns praised emergency services and volunteers for rescuing 678 people from floodwaters in recent days, including 177 in the past 24 hours. “It’s an amazing, heroic logistical effort where, in very difficult circumstances, many volunteers put themselves in harm’s way to rescue a complete stranger. And over the coming days and weeks, we will hear scores of stories of locals being plucked out of impossible, desperate situations,” Minns told reporters in Maitland in the flood area. “Without the volunteers, we would have had hundreds of deaths and we’re in deep, deep gratitude to those people who volunteered their time,” Minns added. Despite the easing rain, State Emergency Service Commissioner Mike Wassing said crews were still looking out for floodwaters potentially rising due to water continuing to flow into catchments. “We still do have active flood rescues still coming into the system and we’re dealing with those on a case-by-case" basis, Wassing said. “We have seen that tempo drop off, and that’s a good thing.” Bellingen Shire Council Mayor Steve Allan said landslides and damaged roads and bridges were complicating the process of reaching isolated communities in his rural local government region southwest of Coffs Harbour. “We’ve woken up to blue skies which is a great thing,” Allan said. Australians start voting in general elections as pope's death overshadows campaigning “Our rivers are slowly receding and I think we’re probably transitioning from the response phase into the recovery phase this morning,” he added.

Record floodwaters on Australia's east coast left one person dead and three others missing, officials said Thursday, as more heavy rain was forecast in the area. Some 330 people were rescued in the flooding emergency in New South Wales state north of Sydney. The area has been hit with heavy rain since Tuesday. The flooding exceeds local records set in 1929.  Australian central bank reduces benchmark interest rate to 3.85% in second cut this year News South Wales Premier Christopher Minns said some areas were forecast to receive as much as 30 centimeters (1 foot) of rain in the next 24 hours. He said 50,000 people were warned to prepare to evacuate or be isolated by floodwaters, telling reporters: “We are bracing for more bad news." The body of a 63-year-old man was recovered from a flooded house in Moto in New South Wales on Wednesday afternoon, Fire and Rescue Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said. A coroner will determine whether a pre-existing medical condition played a part in his death, he added. Three people — including a 60-year-old woman, a 25-year-old man and a 49-year-old man — were also reported missing, Fewtrell said. “We hold grave fears for all three individuals,” he added. Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said 330 flood rescues were conducted in the past 24 hours. Helicopters have been used to rescue people stranded by floodwaters from rooftops and verandahs. “We’ve seen more rain and more flooding in the mid-to-north coast area than we’ve ever seen before,” Dib said. The flooding has hit communities including Taree, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Bellingen in New South Wales. Taree received a month’s rain in 24 hours, Minns said.  Australians start voting in general elections as pope's death overshadows campaigning “Up around the Taree area, we’ve seen communities that have never flooded in recorded history now flooding,” Fewtrell said. The region has opened 14 evacuation centers as of Thursday.