SYDNEY - Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on Friday, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help.
Four bodies have been pulled from vast tides of floodwater engulfing parts of northern New South Wales, a fertile region of rivers and valleys some 400 kilometres up the coast from Sydney.
Salvage crews were preparing to launch a major clean-up operation as waters started receding Friday morning, surveying the damage from half a year's worth of rain dumped in just three days.
"So many businesses have had water through and it's going to be a massive cleanup," said Kinne Ring, mayor of the flood-stricken farming town of Kempsey.
"Houses have been inundated," she told national broadcaster ABC.
"There's water coming through the bottom of houses, it's really awful to see and the water is going to take a bit of time to recede."
State Emergency Service boss Dallas Burnes said more than 2,000 workers had been deployed on rescue and recovery missions.
"A real focus for us at the moment will be resupplying the isolated communities," he said, adding that 50,000 people were still stranded.
Burnes said rescue crews had plucked more than 600 people to safety since waters started rising earlier this week.
People clambered atop cars, houses and highway bridges before helicopters winched them away.
Although the floods were easing, Burnes said the stagnant lakes of muddy water still posed a threat -- including from snakes that may have slithered into homes in search of shelter.
"Floodwaters have contaminants. There can be vermin, snakes. You need to assess those risks.
"Electricity can also pose a danger as well."
The storms have dumped more than six months' worth of rain over three days, the government weather bureau has said, smashing flood-height records in some areas.
"These are horrific circumstances," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday as he travelled into the disaster zone.
"The Australian Defence Force will be made available. There's going to be a big recovery effort required," he told local radio.
"There's been massive damage to infrastructure and we're going to have to all really pitch in."