SYDNEY, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rainfall across the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) last Friday night and subsequent floods had caused significant property damage in the state.

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) said in a statement on Sunday morning that it was commencing damage assessments in the Illawarra, a coastal region in the southeast of NSW, and Sydney Northern Beaches, and had found 20 properties damaged and six non-habitable in parts of the Illawarra.

Some properties have had ceilings damaged after heavy rain, it added.

The SES will also start damage assessments west of Penrith, a city in NSW, and then in other areas along the Hawkesbury Nepean River as the water subsides.

According to the statement, riverine flooding is continuing along the Hawkesbury Nepean River system, with major flooding at North Richmond, a town in NSW.

The SES, by 5 a.m. local time on Sunday, had recorded 1,877 incidents and made 146 flood rescues in the last 24 hours. There are 1,400 dwellings and more than 3,600 people are under emergency warnings.

Besides, WaterNSW, a state-owned corporation of NSW, said on Saturday that following heavy rainfall across Sydney's water supply catchments, several among Greater Sydney water supply dams started spilling.

（Editor:Fu Bo）