People in the suburbs of Sydney have been told to leave their homes after a month’s rain fell in a few hours.
Residents of a number of suburbs of Sydney and the surrounding area have been told to leave their homes as the monstrous rain causes the waters to rise.
In Camden, west Sydney, 105mm of rain has fallen since 9am on Saturday; in Lucas Heights, south of the city, they have dropped 175 mm.
Overnight, the State Emergency Service has issued evacuation orders and warnings for parts of the Liverpool and Camden local government areas with evacuation centers established in Narellan and Canley Vale.
Around midnight and the evacuation order for the lowlands of Woronora in Sutherland County was launched with a warning that once the flood waters reach 1.7 meters the Woronora Bridge, the suburb will be cut.
Meteorologists had warned that the immense amount of rain that falls in Sydney and Ilwarwarra, due to the formation of a low east coast, was “essentially guaranteed” to cause flooding, especially in the Hawkesbury-Nepean basin. to the west of the city.
At 12.30pm on Sunday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology had issued a moderate to major flood warning for the Nepean, Hawkesbury and Colo rivers. On Sunday evening a major flood was possible in North Richmond.
Senator Murray Watt, federal Minister of Emergency Management, said his government had approved a request from the NSW government for two Defense Force helicopters and a hundred soldiers to assist in operations, in if necessary.
“Thanks to the NSW government for their first request: cooperation and proactive action ensure we are ready,” Watt said.
He added that “major floods” were possible on Sunday.
In a warning issued around 6pm on Saturday evening, the Meteorological Office echoed that sentiment, highlighting the risk of flooding in Menangle and North Richmond.
Meanwhile, the SES said it would send emergency alert SMS messages to communities along Hawkesbury-Nepean catchments “in preparation for possible evacuations overnight and over the next few days as the rain subsides.” intensifies in Sydney and Illawarra “.
The record of a fallen century
Some regions of NSW have already seen one-month rainfall in less than a day.
Ilwarwarra hit torrential rain on Friday and Saturday mornings.
For 24 hours through 9 a.m. Saturday, Foxground recorded 215 mm, Albion Park 171 mm and Kiama 163 mm.
According to Sky News Weather, for Albion Park it is the heaviest rain in July since 1904.
“Kiama has already seen more than 160mm of rain and local streams and rivers began to rise along with the threat of sudden flooding,” Sky News Weather chief meteorologist Tom Saunders said.
On Sunday and Monday, the heaviest rain is likely to fall in Illawarra, Sydney and the Hunter region.
Saunders said there were “many centers” downstairs and one of them could end up sitting near the central coast of NSW during Sunday night and Monday morning.
“If this happens, we are not only looking at the heavy rain, but the harmful winds … we could see gusts of up to 100 km per hour and with very wet ground that could mean uprooting the trees, so we are looking at a little damage to the system, ”he explained.
Not only is New South Wales in jeopardy: Queensland will also be clearly soaked for the next few days.
Lower East Coast
A top-level trough is the cause of the weather drama, which propels fresh air from South Australia.
This trough will interact with tropical humidity further north to produce these intensely windy and humid climate systems.
“A trough is being developed off the coast of NSW,” Saunders said Friday.
“We hope that this level will deepen over the weekend to a low east coast in its own right.
“These systems are notoriously difficult to predict exactly when and where they will be affected, but at this stage, it appears to be the central part of the rainy NSW coast that also affects the northern parts of the country,” he said.
“Essentially guaranteed” sudden floods
The shores of the east coast have many of the characteristics of cyclones, but are not classified as such, as they are found in subtropical waters. But they can still bring large amounts of rain, storms and coastal erosion.
“Sudden flooding and river flooding are essentially guaranteed,” Saunders said of the weather impacts this weekend.
“Harmful winds and power outages are possible, especially towards the end of the weekend until early next week.”
So how much rain could fall? Well, it depends on the weather model, but 200-300mm is a possibility with a chance of up to 400mm in isolated areas and around Sydney, Wollongong and through the Blue Mountains. And that’s really not great.
“This covers the Hawkesbury Nepean catchment and this catchment is still quite wet and it would certainly be enough rain for large floods,” he said.
If that happened, parts of Sydney’s western and northern shores could be flooded.
The Meteorological Office has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rains from Saturday, from the vicinity of Ulladulla to Sydney.
NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said as the dams and rivers were already full, there was “significant” concern about what was to come for communities across the state.
“This major rain event could have significant effects on communities from Port Stephens to Batemans Bay, so we are preparing and sending messages to the community to let them know they are in some of these areas. risk and be prepared “.
The Office predicts a 60-90mm drop on Saturday in Sydney, 100-150mm on Sunday and up to 80mm on Monday. The maximum should be around 17ºC.
It could be even heavier in Wollongong and the Blue Mountains with 150-200mm possible only on Sunday.
Newcastle looks 35-50 mm on Sunday and 50-80 mm on Monday. Further north, there could be some showers over the weekend in places like Port Macquarie and Grafton, but the totals will be much lower. Inland and southern NSW could also see rain, but again it will be much less intense than the Sydney Basin.
Canberra is expected to rain between 10 and 25 mm between Saturday and Monday.
Queensland to be bathed
Widespread rains continue in Queensland. It will slow down on Saturday, but should start boiling again on Sunday with the strongest falls observed earlier in the week.
In the northern parts of the coast, there is a total of 100 mm of rainfall on the charts.
Townsville will see some showers as the weekend progresses, but Monday is when it will drop, with a 40-60mm forecast, and more for Tuesday.
In Brisbane, Saturday seems to be the wettest day, with up to 25 mm of rain and then decreasing on Sunday. But on Tuesday they could see showers again. The other capitals will have a very different weekend, with Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart remaining dry and partly cloudy with near-uniform highs.
Darwin will see blue skies with highs of 29ºC. But it is Perth that will make a glorious sunny. But it will be relatively mild, with temperatures of only 20ºC.
– with Ben Graham and Chantelle Francis
Read related topics: SydneyWeather