Schools will be closed, employees encouraged to work from home and an additional 4,000 homes potentially evacuated overnight as New South Wales battens down the hatches and endures a once-in-a-century storm.
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’.
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 the 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 in the coming days.
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
Cars are seen driving through floodwater in Richmond, NSW, Sunday, March 21
‘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.’
She also warned parents that schools in hard-hit regions will likely need to stay closed in the coming days, but said this would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Schools on the mid north coast are most likely to be affected, but as conditions deteriorate along the Hawkesbury Valley and Nepean region, there will likely be closures in western Sydney too.
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 hoisted out of their home – which was entirely surrounded by water – via helicopter.
Mr Elliott acknowledged weather conditions in New South Wales have swung from one extreme to the next in the last 18 months.
‘It’s just a reality of living in Australia,’ he said.
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 are not expecting conditions to deteriorate further along the mid north coast, but residents are 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 New South Wales 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 State Emergency Service 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
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