"Early estimates indicate at least 10,000 properties may have been damaged following record flooding," the agency said in a statement. Conditions had improved since Friday in the impacted areas of Australia's most populous state, it said.

Another extreme weather event on Australia’s eastern coast highlights government inaction on disaster preparation and climate change.

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.