Death toll from Australia floods rises to 20

The death toll from floods battering Australia’s east coast has risen to 20 as bodies of a man and a woman were discovered in floodwaters in Sydney on Tuesday.

Local media quoted police as saying that the pair were believed to be a missing mother and son whose car was abandoned in a stormwater canal.

Thousands of Sydney residents have been asked evacuate their homes, and the weather bureau has warned of “a tough 48 hours ahead.”

For days, intense rainfall in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW) has brought widespread destruction, leaving thousands displaced and sweeping away property and livestock.