Heavy rains in Australia trigger fresh round of flood evacuations

With rising river levels, residents in the northern New South Wales town of Lismore, among the worst-hit by the record floods a month ago, were ordered to evacuate by Tuesday afternoon.

Heavy rains drenched east Australia on Tuesday, triggering evacuation orders for thousands of flood-weary residents for the second time this month as authorities warned the intense weather is likely to persist for the next 24 hours.