Australia floods recovery could take several months, PM says

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday flooding in the southeast posed "massive challenges" and the recovery would take several months.

Incessant rain over three days triggered major flooding in several rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, as fast-rising rivers cut off more than 50,000 people last week.

"There are still massive challenges ... this is not something that will go away in a matter of days or weeks or even months," Albanese told reporters from the flood-hit town of Taree, more than 300km (186 miles) north of Sydney.

"This will take some time, the recovery, but Australians are resilient."

Taree received just over 600mm (24 inches) of rain over four days from May 20, roughly half its annual average, official data showed.

Australia has been hit with increasing extreme weather events that some experts say are the result of climate change. Following droughts and devastating bushfires at the end of last decade, frequent floods have wreaked havoc since early 2021.

Albanese said the flooding severely hurt the dairy industry, which "will have an impact right throughout Australia." Dead and lost livestock had washed up on the coast after the floods inundated several farms and homes.

A one-off disaster recovery payment of A$1,000 ($648) for adults and A$400 for children will be rolled out from Wednesday, while the ongoing 13-week income support allowance will be expanded to cover more residents, Albanese said.

Insurance Australia Group, the country's largest general insurer, said it had received around 2,500 claims as of Tuesday related to the floods, with most claims for property damage.

Nearly 800 properties have been deemed uninhabitable after conducting more than 7,300 damage assessments, a spokesperson for the New South Wales state emergency services said.