article_snippet.sent: Twelve local government areas have been declared natural disaster zones, from Sydney's northern beaches to the Hunter Valley.
article_snippet.sent: Meanwhile, thousands of people remain stranded in parts of New South Wales as emergency services begin to clean up after devastating weather smashed the state over three days.
article_snippet.sent: On Thursday morning, the NSW State Emergency Service said about 2000 people in the Hunter Region - including the Macdonald Valley, Webbs Creek Valley and Colo Valley - are expected to be isolated for days.
article_snippet.sent: An evacuation order remains in place for parts of Milperra in Sydney, about 200,000 remain without power and the SES is still working to address 50 per cent of 12,420 calls for help the SES has received since Monday morning.
article_snippet.sent: In Dungog, in the Hunter Region, an elderly woman and two elderly men reportedly died in an elderly woman and two elderly men homes as water surged through the small town after the small town received more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours.
article_snippet.sent: The Bureau of Meteorology said wild weather conditions would continue to ease on Thursday but warned floodwaters still had yet to peak in some areas - including Singleton and Bulga in the Hunter.
article_snippet.sent: the SES deputy commissioner Steven Pearce said: 'The recovery effort will be huge for those areas that have been smashed by what has been the largest storms in the last 10 years.'
article_snippet.sent: Rain water made wellies a necessity in some Sydney train stations this week .