Morning mail: ‘life-threatening’ rain expected in Sydney, Russia ‘targeting civilians’, Scott Morrison Covid positive

Wednesday: City and surrounding areas brace for severe weather and flood warnings. Plus: PM to continue working after testing positive for Covid

Good morning. Sydney residents are on alert with the rain bomb" that soaked Brisbane and triggered record floods in northern NSW expected to bring a life-threatening" amount of rain today. The Bureau of Meteorology warns a severe thunderstorm and gusty winds could develop by this evening across the city, south coast and southern tablelands.

As the storms head south, the national flood death toll stands at 10 after the bodies of two people were discovered yesterday - a 76-year-old man at Glen Esk, Queensland and an 80-year-old woman in Lismore, NSW. Among the death and damage, stories of hope and community strength are being shared online as local people offer shelter, share supplies and search for stranded residents. The north coast town of Ballina is facing a one-in-500-years flood as the flood peak was expected to coincide with high-tide overnight. As NSW prepares for damaging weather, the clean-up effort has begun in Queensland - where an estimated 15,000 properties were damaged - and in Lismore, which suffered through the worst floods on record. And the national disaster recovery and resilience agency has defended its decision to omit Lismore from its priority areas for flood mitigation funding just three months ago despite it being one of the most flood-prone areas in Australia.