Sydney, Australia’s largest city, is experiencing ‘life-threatening’ floods after torrential rainfall – equivalent to about a month’s worth of rain – battered parts of the city and its surrounding areas over the weekend, causing dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks. As of Tuesday, evacuation orders had been issued for a whopping 50,000 people in and around Sydney, while the New South Wales government has also declared an emergency in 23 areas. This weekend’s floods marks the fourth flood emergency in 16 months for Sydney, a city home to five million people, and is a stark reminder of the worsening impacts of climate change in Australia.

Residents look at the flooded road outside their homes at Richmond on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
A man paddles his boat down a flooded street at Windsor on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
A man walks through flood waters back to his home from a fire truck at Windsor on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
An industrial building is inundated with water at Londonderry on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
A jets sits in a flooded street at Windsor on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, July 5, 2022.