SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian authorities started clean-up efforts on Saturday after floods claimed five lives and inundated more than 10,000 properties in the country's southeast. The New South Wales emergency services agency said damage assessments were under way in the state for the mid-north coast region after the floods that cut off towns,

Five people were confirmed killed on Friday in record flooding in northern New South Wales with 50,000 people cut off, thousands of homes and businesses without power and cattle herds wiped out.

Four people have died and several were missing as major flooding in New South Wales (NSW) left about 50,000 people isolated by floodwaters. The record rainfall, now declared a natural disaster, has been caused by a slow-moving area of low pressure and is greater than any in living memory for some residents, according to local authorities.