Australian rescuers suspend search for storm missing

Search operations have been suspended overnight for people missing after deadly storms lashed Australia's east coast, causing widespread damage.

Three people have died in flooding, and storms continue to batter New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Waves as high as 12m (40ft) caused severe erosion at Sydney's beaches and some houses are at risk of collapse.

In Tasmania, major flood warnings have been issued for seven rivers and two elderly people are feared drowned.

Rescuers have stopped looking for them overnight and the search will resume at dawn.

A man was reportedly swept into the Ouse river from his own back yard on Monday. A woman whose husband was rescued by helicopter from the roof of their house as it flooded is also missing.

In Sydney a man was washed off rocks near Bondi Beach. Land and sea rescue teams have failed to locate him and called off their work for the night.

Emergency responders in Australia have attended hundreds of call-outs during the storms and abnormally high tides and warned people not to try to walk or drive across flooded roads.

On Monday morning, a man's body was found in the Cotter River near Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. Police said the 37-year-old was caught in floodwater at a river crossing.

Police divers also retrieved the bodies of two men whose cars were washed off New South Wales roads in separate incidents.

A 65-year-old man was caught inside his vehicle while trying to cross floodwater at Bowral, while another man was killed after his utility vehicle was washed off the road on Sydney's south-west fringe.

Northern Tasmania faced its worst flooding in decades on Monday, with parts of Launceston, Latrobe and Railton all under water.

The Insurance Council of Australia said insurance companies had so far received 11,150 claims across Queensland and New South Wales totalling an estimated A$38m ($28m; £19m).

People who had been evacuated from beachfront mansions in Sydney's affluent northern suburbs returned to their homes on Monday to find extensive damage to gardens, houses and in once case a swimming pool, which was swept onto the heavily eroded beach.

Farmers in Tasmania are said to be facing huge losses after cattle were swept away by the flooded Mersey river.

Thousands of people are still without electric power and many roads remain closed.

Tasmania's police minister, Rene Hidding, said the state's residents should be "absolutely responsible" around the water and avoid risking their lives.

He said: "Don't try to take nature on - it leads to tragedy. We already have grave fears for two of our fellow citizens and we pray for them.

"There is simply no case to enter flood waters with a motor vehicle or in person."