Some 3,500 people have been told to stay away from their homes in Australia as flooding threatens large swathes of the state of New South Wales (NSW).
Up to three-quarters of the state is covered by water, according to emergency services officials.
Sydney, the capital of NSW, has experienced one of its wettest summers in decades and as a result, the city's Warragamba dam has reached capacity and has started to overflow.
Almost 2,000 residents in Sydney's northwestern outskirts have been forced to leave their homes as the relentless rain continues to push river levels up.
A further 1,500 people are still not allowed to return to their homes in the towns of Cowra, west of Sydney, and Cooma, south of Australia's capital Canberra.
Goulburn, located between Sydney and Canberra, has been one of the hardest-hit towns.
Just six years ago, residents nearly ran out of drinking water - now, flooding has inundated the streets.
Meanwhile, around 2,000 people remain isolated by floodwaters in the state's northwest.
NSW state emergency services (SES) commissioner Murray Kear said: "There has been an unprecedented amount of rain over a long duration.
"It's been many, many years since the sheer amount of rainfall. This rain event covers 75% of the state."
So far there have been no casualties, but late on Saturday (local time) police were searching for a missing man, who was washed down a stream.
Local media reports said three men aged in their 40s had attempted to cross a swollen brook in their four-wheel drive in southern NSW.
But when the vehicle got stuck and they got out, they were washed away.
Two of the men were located downstream - one was apprently rescued from a tree. Police and SES workers are still searching for the third man.
Authorities have warned people against trying to pass flooded roads.
Emergency services official Craig Ronan said: "We urge the public to take it seriously. Don't enter floodwater because that's where people drown.
"You get swept away by the fast flowing water and people do drown."
Australia's bureau of meteorology said the main rainfalls over the weekend would be in the state's central and western areas, where 100mm is expected to fall in 48 hours.
