Mon 22 March 2021:
Tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated in a major flooding event on Australia’s east coast, with heavy rainfall across large parts of New South Wales (NSW) state expected to continue.
As of Monday, roughly 15,000 people have been evacuated from properties in northern NSW, while closer to state capital Sydney, around 3,000 people have been forced to leave their homes near the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers.
Across the state, 38 regions were designated as natural disaster areas, with state Premier Gladys Berejiklian warning that further evacuations were expected as sustained heavy rainfall continued.
“Some communities who were battered by the bushfires are now being battered by the floods, and a deep drought prior to that,” Berejiklian said.
“I don’t know any time in our states’ history when we’ve had these extreme weather conditions in such quick succession in the middle of a pandemic.
” Some areas on the NSW mid-north coast have received over 1 meter of rain fall since Friday, with one data center north of Sydney recording 249 mm in just 24 hours on Sunday.
“This is due to the combination of a slow moving coastal trough and the approach of another system coming through from the west,” Bureau of Meteorology NSW manager Jane Golding explained.
A severe weather warning was extended on Monday to include the south coast and western districts of NSW, on top of the central and mid-north coast.
“With the approach of this new system coming through today, we’re expecting heavy rain to fall in areas that haven’t seen as much rain over the last few days and we’re expecting the flood risk to develop in those areas as well,” Golding said.
Motorists drive through flooded roads on the New South Wales Central Coast after heavy rains hit the East Coast of Australia. @CCexpressadvoc #news #weather #flood pic.twitter.com/MilFVMdXNm
— Scott Gardiner (@scottgardinerau) March 21, 2021
Residents in some affected areas were allowed to return to their homes Monday after waters receded, but others were placed on high alert as their regions were impacted by rising waters for the first time.
Authorities have warned of a potentially “life-threatening” situation though so far there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries.
Education authorities said more than 200 schools were closed, including some that had been damaged in the floods.
There were reports homes and businesses had also been damaged but Andrew Hall, CEO, Insurance Council of Australia said it was too early to understand the “extent of the damage to property in affected areas and to estimate the insurance damage bill”.
Insurers had received more than 5,000 claims in the past few days, he added.
Residents of official disaster zones are eligible for emergency government support payments of Aus$1,000 (US$770) per adult and Aus$400 per child.
Swollen rivers cut off roads and bridges and forced about 150 schools to shut on Monday.
Areas north and west of Sydney, the NSW Central Coast and the Hawkesbury valley have been of particular concern.
There have been some 15,000 evacuations from the Mid-North Coast and a further 3,000 in Sydney, officials said.
Conditions in many areas of New South Wales are expected to worsen, with officials warning that two weather systems could collide, creating a “last blast” of rain and storms going into Wednesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rainfall would affect the whole NSW coast and several inland areas on Tuesday, bringing a “serious risk” of flash flooding.
Around 10 million Australians in every mainland state and territory- except WA- are currently under a #weather warning as two major systems collide.
Warnings for heavy #rain, damaging winds and heavy surf cover a size area similar to #Alaska.
Check here:https://t.co/K6DH85LfDv pic.twitter.com/usD2pmbZ82
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) March 22, 2021
The bureau said the rainfall so far – up to 90cm in some areas – had been “extraordinary”, with many areas across NSW resembling an “inland sea”.
