SYDNEY, 22 March, 2021 (TON): On Monday, several thousand people are to be evacuated from the flood-affected suburbs in Sydney’s West as the area is set for worst flooding in 60 years, the authorities said.

Unrelenting rains over the past three days swelled rivers in Australia's most populous state of New South Wales (NSW), causing widespread damage and triggering calls for mass evacuations and the forecast continues for few more days as well.

NSW State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said, "We need to brace ourselves, it will be a very

"I don't know any time in a state history where we have had these extreme weather conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic," Berejiklian said.

Authorities said around 18,000 people have been evacuated from low lying areas of the state as Sydney on Sunday recorded the wettest day of the year with almost 111 mm (4.4 inches) of rain, while some regions in NSW's north coast received nearly 900 mm of rain in the last six days.

However, until now and later a severe flood warning has been issued for large parts of NSW as well as neighboring Queensland.