Is NSW flooding a year after bushfires yet more evidence of climate change?

Experts say it’s unusual to see so many places with such high rainfall across such a wide area. But identifying the cause is complicated

Life-threatening floods have washed away homes and businesses with a deluge of rain inundating hundreds of kilometres of the New South Wales coast.

Falling on already soaked soils, the rains sparked dozens of flood warnings, with residents in parts of Sydney’s north and west also fearing for their homes and their lives.

Related: NSW floods bring new misery to community devastated by black summer bushfires

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Related: ‘Horrific’: swarms of spiders flee into homes – and up legs – to escape NSW floods