Australia news LIVE updates: Sydney’s Georges River residents issued SES evacuation orders as rain, flooding worsens in south-west Sydney; Ukraine slams Russia’s escape route proposal

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage today. In case you missed them, here are the major headlines from this afternoon and evening:

• There were 59 flood-related evacuation orders in place in NSW on Tuesday afternoon affecting 40,000 people. Another 20,000 were under evacuation warnings, as the death toll from the record-breaking floods reached 27.

SES help evacuate mums and their children from Guardian Childcare on Waine St, Manly.Credit: James Brickwood

• A man in Victoria has died from the mosquito-borne virus Japanese encephalitis. There have been seven confirmed cases of the virus in Victoria, two in NSW and one in Queensland.
• The evacuation of civilians from a number of besieged cities in Ukraine has begun, after plans to halt fire to allow for the opening of humanitarian corridors failed over the weekend and on Monday. People have started leaving Irpin and Sumy and evacuations are also planned for those in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

Residents of Irpin flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces enter the city.Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

• Shane Warne’s body will be flown back to Melbourne from Thailand on a chartered flight on Wednesday or Thursday.
• Australia recorded 31,540 new COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths on Tuesday.

Buses packed with people fleeing the Russian invasion in Ukraine left two embattled cities along safe corridors on Tuesday, while officials said the exodus of refugees from the country reached 2 million.

Ukrainian soldiers and militiamen carry a woman in a wheelchair as the artillery echoes nearby while people flee Irpin.Credit: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

The exodus comes as the European Commission prepares to discuss a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus that will hit additional Russian oligarchs and politicians and three Belarusian banks, three sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Russian onslaught has trapped people inside besieged cities that are running low on food, water and medicine amid the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II.

Read the full story here.

Victorian Deputy Premier James Merlino has shared his daughter has tested positive for COVID-19, meaning he and his family are isolating.

In a tweet this evening, Mr Merlino said his daughter is double-vaccinated and feeling OK.

Victoria’s Deputy Premier James Merlino.Credit: Eddie Jim

“This afternoon one of my kids felt unwell and tested positive to COVID - so it’s a week in iso for my family,” he wrote.

“I’ve tested negative so far - but will be away from Parliament and working remotely for the week, with regular tests.”

With floods affecting thousands of people across Sydney, our photographers have captured scenes from around the city.

SES personnel help evacuate mums and their children from Guardian Childcare on Waine St, Manly due to flood waters. Credit: James Brickwood

A man uses a canoe and ladder to access a property in Windsor as heavy flooding continues to impact the area.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Student trudge through floodwater on Macpherson Street, Warriewood.Credit: Nick Moir

View the full gallery here.

The evacuation of civilians from at least two Ukrainian city has begun after plans for humanitarian corridors failed over the weekend and on Monday.

So far, more than 150 people have been evacuated from Irpin, near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, the region’s government Oleksiy Kuleba said on Tuesday morning, Kyiv time.

Residents of Irpin fleeing heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces enter the city on Monday.Credit: Getty Images / Chris McGrath

In Sumy, a convoy going to the Ukrainian city of Poltova would be followed by civilians in personal vehicles, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Russia said it would also open evacuation corridors for people in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and the besieged city of Mariupol, where about 200,000 people are waiting to leave.

Over the weekend, evacuation attempts failed, with both sides blaming the other for failing to halt fighting. On Monday, an offer by the Russian government to evacuate Ukrainians into Russia and Belarus were rejected by Ukrainian officials.

People being evacuated on Tuesday have been given the choice of going to other Ukrainian cities.

More than 1.7 million refugees have left Ukraine between February 24, when the Russian invasion began, and March 6, according to the UN refugee agency.

with Reuters

The man in his 60s is the first person to ever die in Victoria from Japanese encephalitis, the Department of Health confirmed.

The seven confirmed cases in the state are the first ever locally acquired, given it is the first time the mosquito-borne virus has spread below the country’s northern tip.

Along with the cases in Victoria, two have been confirmed in NSW, and one has been confirmed in Queensland.

The Federal Department of Health has confirmed that, while the man in his 60s from northern Victoria is Australia’s first Japanese encephalitis (JEV) death in this outbreak, it is not the first fatal case of the virus in the country’s history.

The department did not provide more details of previous Australian Japanese encephalitis deaths.

You can read more about the virus in this explainer piece here.

Civilians will start leaving the besieged Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday under an agreement with Russia on the establishment of a “humanitarian corridor”, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

“It has been agreed that the first convoy will start on Tuesday morning (Kyiv time) from the city of Sumy. The convoy will be followed by the local population in personal vehicles,” she said in a televised statement.

People remove debris at the site of a military base building that, according to the Ukrainian ground forces, was destroyed by an air strike, in the town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region.Credit: Reuters

Civilians have been trapped by fighting since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on on February 24 and agreements to halt fighting to allow humanitarian corridors to be opened have failed several times in recent days.

Yesterday, Russia offered to open up corridors from a number of Ukrainian cities into Russia or Belarus, a Russian ally, which Ukrainian authorities rejected.

Russia proposed giving the residents of Sumy, in northeastern Ukraine, and Mariupol, a southern port city, the choice of moving elsewhere in Ukraine on Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported.

Reuters

A man in his 60s from northern Victorian has died from Japanese encephalitis, the state’s Health Department has confirmed.

The man died on February 28 this year, with an autopsy revealing he died from the virus, and investigations into how he contracted it are underway.

As of March 8, 2022, there have been seven confirmed cases of Japanese encephalitis in Victorian residents, including one death.

A spokesperson for the department said its thoughts were with the man’s family and friends.

“We strongly advise people take steps to limit their exposure to mosquitoes and avoid mosquito habitats such as stagnant water,” the spokesperson said.

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese said the federal government needs to explain why the Australian Defence Force has extensive resources as rescue missions continue across flood-affected parts of NSW.

Mr Albanese said he was not critical of Defence personnel.

Anthony Albanese has raised questions about why ADF resources aren’t being used in flood-related rescue missions.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s important that we acknowledge that our Defence Force personnel do their best, as instructed, at any particular time,” he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday morning.

“But clearly, there have been issues here with people who were on the roofs of places for a long period of time, for example.

“The ADF have access to substantial helicopters, for example. Why are people having to pitch in and privately hire helicopters when the ADF have access to those resources? I think they are all questions that need answers.”

Mr Albanese said it was also worth considering training more civilians to help out in times of extreme weather events.

“We know that people will provide assistance. We know also that in cleaning up, there can be dangers, in terms of an increased level of disease, increased issues created if people are not aware and don’t have the education and the expertise which is there.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be in Northern NSW when he completes his seven-day COVID isolation this week, and Mr Albanese will be in Ballina and Lismore on Thursday and Friday.

Russian motorists travelling on the M-11, a motorway between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, were confronted by a series of surprising messages when they tried to charge their electric cars last week.

“Glory to Ukraine” read an electronic message on one charging station; “Putin is a d---head” read another. Russian energy company Rosseti, which owns the stations, later said the machines had been hacked by a Ukrainian company that supplies parts for the stations.

In recent days, Russia has effectively blocked Twitter, Facebook and TikTok, but VPN upatke has soared. Credit: Getty

Diners considering a meal at Romantic, an upscale restaurant in Moscow, were similarly surprised when they went online to check out its Google reviews. “Food is great, but your leader is killing innocent people in Ukraine!! Stop this war,” read one review, part of a massive campaign to spread messages critical of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to unsuspecting Russian readers.

Read the full story here.