Floodwaters inundate homes in Sydney after days of torrential rain caused rivers to swell and pour over roads and into suburban streets. Thousands of people on Australia's east coast fled their homes Wednesday as torrential rains tracked north after unleashing floods in Sydney that submerged communities, roads and bridges under mud-brown water. New South Wales authorities issued fresh flood alerts north of Australia's largest city and warned that rising, rain-swollen rivers still posed a danger in parts of Sydney despite easing rainfall.