Some roads have turned into small rivers in the city of Windsor, northwest of Sydney, and the only way to get there is by boat.
Matthew Benson is rowing up and down one of the streets in a neighbourhood in a suburb of Australia’s largest city.
“I’m bringing food and water to people over there,” he tells me, pointing to the other side. “We’re just watching and waiting.”
While some cars are barely visible, others are completely submerged.
Another local, Sam, points to his house across the submerged street. “We don’t know about the second floor. But the first floor is submerged in water,” she tells me in tears.
This is the second time this has happened to him this year. His house was damaged in the floods in March. This time, he had to live with his mother, who still had to evacuate.
It has all been very exhausting and emotional, and she breaks up.
“Everybody is in shock. Everybody is traumatised,” Linda Strickland tells me.
She co-founded the local charity Hawkesbury’s Helping Hands and has been helping people here for years, especially during natural disasters. I meet her on one of the streets in South Windsor, where people have been stranded. Swathes of farmland now are entirely covered in water.
“The community is still recovering from the last flood and the one before. Some people are still recovering from the fires,” she said.
“Everyone is in disaster mode now. The most important thing is to ensure people are safe, have something to eat, and know that someone cares.”