Three people die in Australian storms

Three people have died in severe Australian storms, which continue to batter the nation's east coast on Tuesday.

A woman and two men, all believed to be elderly, have died in Dungog in western New South Wales (NSW) which has recorded more than 312 mm of rain in 24 hours.

The news follows dramatic footage of a house floating down a street in the small town.

The east coast low is expected to pound NSW for another 12 hours before easing on Wednesday morning.

More than 180,000 homes have been cut off from power and 20 people have been rescued because of a severe storm.

Police said more than 20 people had to be rescued from floodwaters as storms continue to hit New South Wales (NSW) in what has been described as the wildest weather in five years.

Police said thousands of trees have fallen and hundreds of power lines are down, and firefighters have also dealt with 75 fires.

"This weather system isn't abating - we still have cyclonic winds in that area," the police spokesman said.

"We're still seeing massive amounts of rainfall and so it's going to be a challenging and busy afternoon."

The Bureau of Meteorology has recorded wind speeds up to 1130 km/h and said more rain and strong winds will continue this week as another low pressure system builds off the NSW coast.

A Fire and Rescue spokesman said this week was one of its busiest on record. Endi