Australian prime minister tours flood zones

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian met with emergency response workers on Friday (March 26), on a visit to flood-affected regions on the mid-north coast of NSW.

"It is just an enormously humbling and proud moment to see the wonderful resilience and character of Australians in times like this and we have seen it so many times over the last two and a half years in particular. Premier and I have stood here in this very site, not that long ago, back in 2019 as fires ripped through this area. David and I have been through here on drought, and now we're here with floods and over the last year you've been dealing with COVID too."

Five days of incessant rain triggered the worst flooding in Australia’s most populous state in more than half a century.

The deluge led to entire towns being cut off, and homes, farms, and livestock washed away.

Clean-up efforts have been ramped up, with military personnel joining the state's emergency services to clear debris from roads and bridges, and deliver food and other supplies to cut-off communities.

But State premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that for some, the clean-up might be tougher than the disaster.

"We know for some people the clean up and recovery will be shorter period than others, but we also know regrettably from all the experience that we've had, that sometimes the clean up and recovery's more difficult that the crisis period itself.”