Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne weather: When will it end – urgent warnings about ‘dangerous’ floods as severe weather causes chaos on Australia’s east coast
All NSW residents have been told not to leave their homes unless their travel is ‘essential’ as extreme weather wreaks havoc on the east coast.
Trains, roads and Sydney’s airport are in chaos as authorities grapple with what is being called a ‘rain bomb’.
Two major weather systems have merged, bringing as much as 300mm of rain from the south-east Queensland to the NSW south coast on Friday.
The rare weather phenomenon known as Black Nor’easter plunged some areas into darkness in the middle of the day.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said large parts of the NSW east coast will receive extreme rainfall and are at risk of flash flooding throughout Friday evening.
All NSW residents have been told not to leave their homes unless their travel is ‘essential’ as extreme weather wreaks havoc on the east coast. Lismore is pictured on Friday
People are seen as rain falls in Brisbane’s CBD, Friday, April 5, 2024
“Our severe weather warning currently covers much of eastern and southern parts of NSW, stretching from around Newcastle in the Hunter region to Bega on the south coast,” senior meteorologist Angus Hines said.
That includes ‘the entire greater Sydney area, the Illawarra area and extending into the Central Tablelands’.
NSW SES Commissioner Carleen York said wild weather in the state was making driving dangerous and advised residents to stay indoors.
“I’m asking people, if it’s not an essential trip, to postpone it to another day,” she said.
More than 550 people have called on the SES for help in the past 24 hours, and seven flood rescues have been carried out since Monday.
In a post on Watch and act.’
Chipping Norton is a suburb in the south-west of Sydney, 27 kilometers from the CBD.
The rain is so heavy that the Warragamba Dam, which supplies most of Sydney’s water, is expected to overflow on Monday morning.
A vehicle attempts to drive through floodwaters in the village of Tintenbar on April 4, 2024 in Byron Bay, Australia
Although the wet weather is expected to subside by Sunday, the dam is already at 96 percent capacity.
Only 90mm of rain is needed to fall, while forecasters predict 150mm of rain is on the way.
“What’s important here is that the spill is likely to happen once the rainfall has continued, so it’s really important that the community remains vigilant,” Water NSW CEO Andrew George told reporters on Friday.
More to come…