As heavy rain continues to thrash the east coast of New South Wales, about 18,000 Australians have been evacuated due to the worst flooding in past 50 years.
The Australian government has declared a natural disaster in vast swaths of NSW, forcing thousands of people to move out and clear the area. Rivers and lakes in Sydney, the state capital, and south-east Queensland have overflowed due to days of torrential rain.
Authority said the “once-in-a-50-year event” might last all week, and warned people to be cautious. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has issued financial assistance to those who have been forced to evacuate their homes.
Here’s the latest update on the situation:
- The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) is assisting 2,000 people in evacuating, with more evacuations expected in low-lying areas of Sydney’s west and north west. Among 18000 evacuated people, 3000 people are from Western Sydney, and 15000 are from the Mid-North Coast.
- Major areas of flooding today were the Hawkesbury River, the Macleay River, the Wollombi Brook, Rickabys Creek, Widemere Detention Basin and the Colo River.
- 10 million Australians are under a severe weather warning, as the warning has been issued in much of the east coast as well as parts of Queensland, Victoria, the ACT, the Northern Territory and South Australia.
- Sydney will face another 40 to 80mm of rain over the next 24 to 36 hours. The Bureau confirmed that some areas had received almost one metre of rain in the past four days.
- At least 36 schools in NSW have been affected by the floods, with 151 schools closed today and another 20 were open but with “minimal supervision”.
- Gladys Berejiklian, the Premier of NSW, said the floods were unlike any she had seen before, urging people to keep their vaccination appointments and calling it a “miracle” that no one had died.
- The SES issued all-clears to parts of western Sydney, including Penrith and Jamisontown, allowing people to return home, while evacuation warnings were issued to Rickabys Creek and the Widemere Detention Basin area.
- Evacuation orders still apply for those in North Richmond, Agnes Banks, Freemans Reach, Cornwallis, Pitt Town North, Gronos Point, Pitt Town Bottoms.
- The Bureau of Meteorology has not predicted any improvement in the weather, and flooding specialist Justin Robinson has described the flood as the worst in 20 years.
