HEAVY rainfall across Australia’s east coast was forecast to ease today, but floodwaters will linger for days across New South Wales, where 15,000 people were nervously waiting for potential orders to evacuate.

Some 18,000 residents of Australia’s most populous state have fled their homes since last week, with warnings that the clean-up could continue into April.

Some parts of the state recorded two-thirds of their annual rainfall in less than a week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the rain emergency was expected to ease by tomorrow, but the “floodwaters [will] remain persistent for some time.”

He added: “I’m advised that the rain and flood situation does remain dynamic and extremely complex.”

Campaigning environmental group Greenpeace warned earlier this week that climate change was making the floods worse.

“Burning coal, oil and gas are the top causes of climate change, which makes all extreme weather events worse,” said Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Martin Zavan.

“The torrential downpours and flash floods that have swept away homes, inundated properties, closed schools and left many isolated and cut off from essential services like hospitals are all exacerbated by climate change. That’s why we need to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 at the latest.

“These floods are just the latest example of the many devastating ways that climate change is disrupting our daily lives right now. And it’s only going to get worse, unless the federal government reins in the mining and burning of coal, oil and gas.”