Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on Friday, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help. Four bodies have been pulled from vast tides of floodwater engulfing parts of northern New South Wales, a fertile region of rivers and valleys some 400 kilometres up the coast from Sydney.

Officials say record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have left four people dead and one missing as rain eased over the disaster area