Sydney, Apr 1 (IANS): Rainfall that resulted in last month's flood crisis across the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) was more than double the average, making it the second-wettest March on record, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said on Thursday.

Extensive areas of flooding resulted from the torrential rain, killing one person and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes, dpa news agency reported.

The disaster is estimated to have caused A$2 billion ($1.5 billion) in damage, according to the Australian Financial Review.

While the rain had eased and flood waters were receding, last week some 20,000 residents were still unable to return to their homes.

Since the floods began, the state's emergency services received more than 23,000 calls for help from the public, and volunteers have attended more than 13,000 jobs, AAP news agency reported.

At the peak of the crisis, communities on the NSW mid-north coast, faced the worst flooding conditions since 1929.