Wild weather drenches Sydney
Sydney is experiencing its heaviest rainfall in a decade as wild weather from ex-cyclone Oswald passes through the region.
- Autoplay OnOff
- Video feedback
- Video settings
- How the weather situation unfolded this morning
- Thousands hung out to dry in west
- Boy, 3, dies after being hit by tree
- Flood crisis claims fourth person
More than 1500 residents near Grafton have been ordered to evacuate on Tuesday morning as authorities prepare for the Clarence River to hit a record peak at midday which authorities warn will cause major flooding.
The State Emergency Service issued a flood evacuation order for Dovedale and North Meadow at 8.30am, telling residents to leave their homes immediately. On Monday night, those residents had been warned that they may have to leave their homes, but that was upgraded to an evacuation order as the river level continued to rise.
Sydney got lashed with rain overnight. Photo: Mick Tsikas
Authorities originally expected the Clarence River in Grafton to peak at 7.9 metres about 9am on Tuesday.
However, that later was revised up to an expected peak of 8.1 metres at midday, which was forecast to cause major flooding of downstream rural properties.
Caroline Ortel, SES regional controller, said Grafton was facing record flood levels, which could be even higher than predicted.
High tide ... huge waves at Bronte Beach. Photo: Peter Rae
"What we're dealing with there is a flood of record," she said.
"There has never been a flood of this height in recorded history of Grafton, so for everybody who is trying to work on this and make all of the predictions, there isn't historical data to go on. The river is showing signs of dropping further upstream and that is what we have to work with at the moment."
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a major flood warning for the Clarence Valley, and a moderate flood warning for the Orara River.
Big waves ... Coogee Beach on Tuesday morning. Photo: Peter Rae
The evacuation order came just hours before the flood peak was expected to hit, and at 9.30am Ms Ortel said water could already be entering some of those areas.
"The area that's currently under the emergency order will have water starting to enter the levee banks in the very near future, that water could be entering that area now," she said.
She urged residents to leave immediately, as roads would be congested and people could become trapped.
Flash flooding from rising storm water has closed roads all over the mid north coast. Photo: Frank Redward
Police urged those residents ordered to evacuate to listen to emergency services and get out as soon as possible.
"Please do not leave it to the eleventh hour, please do not ignore the warnings and try to traverse floodwaters and put the lives of SES people or the lives of police at risk trying to rescue you," a police spokesman said.
Separate low-pressure system
Staying dry ... torrential rain hit Sydney overnight. Photo: AP
The remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald stalled over northern NSW on Monday night, but a separate low-pressure system formed over the Hunter and beat a path down the coast to Sydney.
The Bellinger River has received 280 millimetres of rain since 9am on Monday, the heaviest rainfall in four years.
Flood waters have cut Bellingen in half, and the main bridge there is completely under water.
The heaviest rainfall in the Illawarra was on the escarpment, which received 150 millimetres of rain, while Wollongong received 120 millimetres, the heaviest daily rainfall total in two years.
Wind gusts of 100km/h were reported in Coffs Harbour overnight, but in Sydney the wind was not as fierce as predicted, peaking at 70km/h on Sydney Harbour.
A severe weather warning remains in place on Tuesday for the damaging winds, heavy rain and damaging surf for people in the Metropolitan, Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast, Hunter, Illawarra, South Coast and Central Tablelands forecast districts.
Sydney saturated
Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said Sydney was saturated in widespread rainfall totals of between 80 and 150 millimetres overnight, causing localised flooding in some areas, including Camden.
The wettest area of the city was Frenchs Forest, which has received 155 millimetres of rain since 9am yesterday.
Richmond was saturated in 111 millimetres of rain, the biggest daily total in 16 years in the suburb, while Bankstown, Canterbury and Badgerys Creek recorded 100 millimetres, the heaviest in 12 years.
Mr Dutschke said many of Sydney's western suburbs received their heaviest daily rainfall totals in five years overnight.
But Mr Dutschke said by 5am on Tuesday, the heaviest rainfalls had passed for Sydney.
"It will take a little bit longer for it to ease off in the Illawarra and the South Coast. The South Coast won't get any easing until this afternoon."
Calls for help
State Emergency Service spokesman Michael Eburn said officers had responded to 2900 calls for assistance for help across NSW, mostly in the north of the state.
However that number could rise rapidly as people wake on Tuesday and assessed the damage to their properties.
"Our local units have been out in Sydney dealing with localised flooding in Camden and normal call outs, such as trees down and leaking roofs," he said.
"It has certainly been more significant in the north of NSW. We've evacuated low-lying areas of North Lismore and a couple of evacuation warnings were issued for Grafton.
"We've done 19 flood rescues, and most of those are avoidable things - people entering floodwaters despite our advice."
The low pressure system is expected to move out to sea on Tuesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Dangerous surf
Mr Dutschke said dangerous surf conditions were expected today and for the rest of the week, with waves of up to six metres expected to hit beaches.
"There is a fair bit of beach erosion going on," he said. "The surf is going to be dangerous for a fair while after this rain clears, probably until the end of the week. The sea is going to be pretty mucky as well."
The rain is expected to ease on Tuesday morning and clear by the afternoon, with Sydney expected to reach a maximum of 27 degrees. The rain has also eased in the north of the state, where temperatures are expected to reach the low 30s on Tuesday.
"It's going to brighten up pretty quickly after this rain clears and get quite warm," Mr Dutschke said.
However, he said there was the chance of showers and thunderstorms in coming days.
"While this rain is becoming much lighter and clearing, there is still a moderate amount of instability and it's enough to cause afternoon showers to develop for the next few days and even a few storms, in eastern parts of NSW and Queensland," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment