More wild weather is on the way for rain-soaked New South Wales as a once-in-a-century mega-storm continues to lash Australia’s east coast.
Conditions are dangerous and volatile as more flood warnings were issued for parts of western Sydney and the NSW mid-north coast on Sunday night.
Rising floodwaters in Sydney’s west and north-west are now higher than the catastrophic 1961 flood, with residents of parts of Penrith told to leave their homes by 9pm before floods are expected to peak.
A severe weather remains in place for much of the NSW coast for life-threatening flash-flooding with 137 schools closed and staff urged to work from home on Monday.
Up to 60mm of rain is forecast to soak Sydney Sydney on Monday after 110mm fell in the space of 24 hours over the weekend as two weather systems collide.
By 4.30pm on Sunday, floodwaters had started to inundate homes in Ladbury Avenue Penrith (pictured)
A police car was inundated in floodwaters in Freemans Reach in Sydney’s north-west on Sunday
An abandoned umbrella lies at the flood intersection of Ladbury and Memorial Avenue in Penrith in Sydney’s west
A large crowd of residents gathered at the new Windsor Bridge on Sunday to keep a vigilant eye on the Hawkesbury River
Windsor residents in Sydney’s north-west braved the wet conditions to keep a close eye on the flooded Hawkesbury River
Late Sunday afternoon, NSW State Emergency Service declared western parts of Penrith as a high danger area where some properties have already been inundated with water.
An evacuation order was issued for all properties within the area bounded by the Nepean River, south of the Great Western Highway and west of Peach Tree Creek, including Captains Road; Fitch Avenue; Ladbury Avenue; Memorial Avenue; Nepean Avenue; and Recreation Avenue.
Residents in the immediate vicinity of Cables Wake Park bounded by Nepean River, Jamison Road and Peach Tree Creek were also ordered to evacuate.
‘Once floodwater reaches 7.96m the Great Western Highway Evacuation Route will be cut. If you remain in the area, you may be trapped without power, water and other essential services and it may be too dangerous to rescue you,’ a NSW SES alert states.
Evacuees are urged to bring drinking water and food with them and relocate personal possessions to a safe place.
The Nepean River is expected to peak around 10.4 metres at midnight Sunday.
Inmates at the Emu Plains and nearby Amber Laurel Correctional Centres have also being evacuated, Corrective Services has confirmed.
Flood evacuation warnings have been issued for the Windsor CBD, eastern parts of South Windsor, southern parts of Wilberforce and Wisemans Ferry due the rising levels of the Hawkesbury River.
Affected residents have until Monday morning to evacuate.
‘Once floodwater enters at 15.45m, the area will experience increasing flood levels, progressively forcing residents to evacuate their homes. If you remain in the area after 9am Monday, you may become trapped without power, water and other essential services and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you,’ the SES states.
An evacuation centre has been set up for Castle Hill RSL for who need temporary accommodation.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Jonathan How said ‘relentless rainfall’ will lash parts of Sydney and eastern NSW until at least Tuesday.
‘This is a dynamic situation, so check for flood warning updates regularly,’ he warned.
Many residents in Penrith were ordered to evacuate their homes on Sunday night as flood waters in the Nepean River continue to rise. Pictured is a flooded park near the Nepean River on Sunday
Residents in western parts of Penrith were ordered to evacuate by SES volunteers on Sunday afternoon before flood levels rise. Pictured are residents in Ladbury Ave, Penrith.
The corner of Ladbury and Memorial Ave Penrith (pictured) is now underwater, forcing local residents to evacuate
The rain will persist on Monday while severe thunderstorms are forecast for northern inland NSW.
A tropical low over northern WA and a coastal trough off NSW are expected to collide on Monday night, sparking a ‘multi-state rain band’.
‘This could cause further river rises, so it’s important to stay vigilant as conditions can change quickly,’ Mr How said.
‘Rain and floods are not over yet!’
Of the 7,370 calls for help the NSW State Emergency Service has been inundated with since Thursday, 1940 have been logged since Saturday night.
The SES has also conducted 685 flood rescues since Thursday.
In Sydney’s north-western outskirts, a large crowd walked through flooded streets to gather at the new Windsor Bridge to watch the Hawkesbury River rise.
Evacuation orders were also issued for low lying areas of Agnes Banks and North Richmond, along with Pitt Town North earlier on Sunday.
The river at Richmond could reach higher than 16 metres by Monday while moderate flooding continues along the Colo River, with major flooding possible from Sunday night.
This Penrith resident braved the rain to take photos of the Nepean River, which could rise to levels of the 1961 flood
State Emergency Service personnel braved dangerous conditions while searching for two men stranded on a rooftop in Freemans Reach, north-west of Sydney
It comes as local SES volunteers launched a search for two men stranded in Freemans Reach after they spent the day moving livestock.
The NSW mid north coast isn’t out of the wood yet either with more warnings issued on Sunday night for the Gloucester and Manning Rivers.
Current projections indicate the deluge could result in flooding similar in scale to the 1961 flood with the Warragamba Dam spillway releasing water at a rate of 450 gigalitres per day.
Sydney Harbour holds 500 gigalitres by comparison.
Flow data up to Sunday indicates that half of the floodwaters in the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system downstream of the dam were from tributary flow, not the dam.
Low-lying areas of Windsor near the Hawkesbury River have been inundated with heavy rain in recent days
The new Windsor Bridge was inundated with with water and debris from the flooded Hawkesbury River on Sunday
In the far NSW north coast, the heavy rain and wild conditions didn’t dampen the spirits of surfers at Byron Bay
Much of the Sydney metropolitan area copped a 110mm soaking in the space of 24 hours on Sunday.
Dozens of schools have been closed, employees urged to work from home and an additional 4,000 homes could be evacuated on Sunday night.
All schools in the Kempsey area on the NSW mid north coast will be closed on Monday.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian held an emergency conference on Sunday to beg residents to play it safe and reiterate how ‘serious and severe this weather is’.
She said the NSW Mid North Coast, which was worst hit on Saturday and overnight, is enduring a once-in-a-century storm, while regions in western Sydney haven’t seen rainfall this severe in 50 years.
‘We were hoping it would only be a one in 20-year event. It looks like it will actually be a one in 50-year event,’ Ms Berejiklian said of conditions in the Hawkesbury Valley on Sunday.
Emergency services have now identified the Hawkesbury Valley and western Sydney as the highest risk zones in the coming days. Ms Berejiklian anticipated 4,000 homes in the region could be evacuated.
On Sunday, the Department of Education announced 38 public schools would close on Monday due to localised flooding. Parents with children at Catholic or private schools will be notified separately if their campus had been impacted.
Parts of Port Macquarie (pictured) and nearby towns have flooded and further south Taree is in the grip of a flood rivalling its worst on record nearly 100 years ago
Many areas across eastern NSW recorded more than 100mm of rain over the past 24 hours, particularly in the Blue Mountains. Pictured: The Parramatta River in flood
Roads have been closed due to flooding, making it dangerous for people to travel to work or take their kids to school. Pictured is North Richmond Bridge
Cars are seen driving through floodwater in Richmond, NSW, Sunday, March 21
Heavy rainfall also arrived in Byron Bay on Sunday afternoon, washing away roads and wreaking havoc on the coastal town
‘It’s the sustained rainfall, the fact that weather event has settled in, it’s not moving,’ she said.
‘We cannot underestimate the ferocity of these weather conditions. We have gone from extreme bushfire to extreme flood.’
Employees have been encouraged to work from home in an attempt to curb any unnecessary road travel and avoid an ‘inevitable fatality’.
State Premier Gladys Berejiklian held an emergency conference on Sunday to beg residents to play it safe and reiterate how ‘serious and severe this weather is’
Residents watch as floodwaters rise on Sunday amid warnings the situation could get worse
A car is left stuck in raging floodwater at the Audley Weir in the Royal National Park south of Sydney
Heavy rain and flooding has triggered evacuations on the New South Wales mid coast with over 120mm rain expected for Sydney
David Elliott, the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, detailed 74 flood rescues which took place overnight – including many in which people had ‘unnecessarily’ put themselves in danger.
‘Motorists need to know that, statistically, we’re moving inevitably closer to a fatality,’ he said.
‘This is the wrong time of year to be taking risks… With the damage that’s been done across the road network a fatality is getting more and more likely.’
In total, emergency services have responded to 6,700 calls since Friday and rescued 670 people.
Footage shared to the NSW Rural Fire Service Twitter page showed a person being rescued from their home in Taree – which was entirely surrounded by water – by helicopter.
Mr Elliott acknowledged weather conditions in NSW have swung from one extreme to the next in the last 18 months.
‘It’s just a reality of living in Australia,’ he said.
David Elliott, the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, detailed 74 flood rescues which took place overnight – including many in which people had ‘unnecessarily’ put themselves in danger
Yellow areas are subject to a Bureau of Meteorology severe weather warning of heavy rain and damaging winds for Sunday. The marked locations are subject to evacuation orders or warnings
The federal and state governments on Sunday morning announced 16 national disaster declarations from Coffs Harbour and Grafton areas in northern NSW into the west to Cessnock and Dungog, and to the Central Coast.
The regions include Bellingen, Clarence Valley, Kempsey, Lake Macquarie City, Nambucca Valley, Port Macquarie-Hastings and Tenterfield.
Relief funding can now start to be funnelled into local council areas for recovery efforts from the catastrophic rainfall.
Queensland, South Australia and Victoria have all deployed resources to New South Wales to help crews already on the ground.
Ms Berejiklian said authorities were not expecting conditions to deteriorate further along the Mid North Coast, but residents were warned the rain has set in for at least the next five days.
There are also concerns about a weather event moving southeast from the Northern Territory.
This entire street near the Paterson river in Hinton, in the NSW Hunter region, is underwater
Port Macquarie is now almost underwater as the Mid North Coast town is lashed with torrential rain
The Bureau of Meteorology described the weather situation as ‘volatile, dangerous and dynamic’
Forecasters predict it will hit western parts of NSW by Monday and Tuesday, potentially wreaking havoc on the regions and intensifying current conditions.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said it was likely the Hawkesbury River at Richmond could overflow after it ‘ticked over to the major flood levels’.
He warned residents from Wollongong all the way to the Queensland border could be at risk.
Meanwhile, an evacuation order has been issued for Picton in southwest Sydney after the Warragamba Dam started spilling over on Saturday afternoon, causing water levels to rise in the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers.
‘As a result of rising flood waters people within the Picton CBD should prepare to evacuate,’ the NSW SES said.
‘Residents should monitor the situation and be prepared to evacuate when instructed to do so. A flood evacuation order will be issued by the NSW SES if evacuation is required.
‘Once floodwaters begin to rise in Stonequarry Creek you will see flooding of roads, sewerage lines and power may be lost, and properties to be inundated. If you remain in the area you may become trapped and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you.’
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Agata Imielsk warned of ‘treacherous’ conditions to come and said four times the March monthly average will fall in NSW in just two days.
‘For the communities out there, you have already experienced some really dangerous conditions and they are going to be treacherous yet again so keep a close eye on warnings,’ she said.
Houses are destroyed after flooding following heavy rainfall in Tinonee, New South Wales
A house is seen after a landslip took out some of its foundations, forcing the road to be closed on Shortland esplanade in Newcastle on Sunday
Earlier, the Bureau described the weather situation as ‘volatile, dangerous and dynamic’.
‘Even enough we are seeing the rainfall and rivers dropping down, we are expecting that to pick back up, so that will remain another watch point in the next 24 hours,’ Ms Imielsk said.
‘So for Sydney, we are still expecting a wet day tomorrow but today is really the bigger of the two.’
Many areas across eastern NSW recorded more than 100mm of rain over the past 24 hours, including the Sydney CBD. Picton received 159mm and Oakdale recorded 139mm.
More than 700mm of rain has fallen on Kendall, 35km southwest of Port Macquarie, since Thursday.
The wild weather caused devastation to a home on Shortland Esplanade near the Newcastle ocean baths with the property teetering on the edge after a landslide hit the area.
Taree is in the grip of a flood rivalling its worst on record 92 years ago as parts of the town have flooded (pictured)
After three days of heavy rain, the Parramatta River (pictured) spilled over on Saturday
Residents in the Pitt Town Bottoms, Cornwallis and North Richmond areas west of Sydney were also told to evacuate in the dead of night as the Hawkesbury River began to flood.
The SES issued several orders telling people in these areas to take pets and essential items with them and stay with family or friends, or go at an evacuation centre.
‘If you remain in the area, you may become trapped without power, water and other essential services,’ the SES said in the evacuation orders.
Bellingen residents and people at a tourist park in the Mid North Coast town were also advised to evacuate because of the risk of flooding along the Bellingen River.
Evacuation centres were established at Richmond and Bellingen, adding to several others opened in the Mid North Coast and Hunter regions.
Emergency crews kept working through the night, having already made more than 500 floodwater rescues. Pictured: Taree in NSW
Floodwaters in Port Macquarie are seen as residents are told to evacuate (pictured on Saturday)
Locals are seen having a drink at a pub despite the venue being completely flooded by the wild weather (pictured pub in Telegraph Point, northern NSW)
The Hastings River in Port Macquarie, NSW is pictured on Saturday morning – as millions brace for a weekend of endless wild weather