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This morning, there are 64 flood evacuation orders in place across New South Wales, and a further 66 evacuation warnings.
The SES has so far carried out 92 flood rescues, and there have been 1700 calls for help. Camden, Wallacia and Windsor are in the firing line this morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology warns the flooding will be even worse than March last year in some spots.
Sunday’s evacuation orders spanned from the south-west to north-west of the city.
Dozens of Australian Defence Force personnel were on the ground on Sunday night ready to assist locals and doorknocking residents in flood-threatened areas of Windsor.
The Windsor and Richmond bridges are both closed once more, essentially leaving residents of North Richmond in the Hawkesbury cut off.
In nearby McGraths Hill, many residents decided to wait out the evacuation warning but Robyn Murray wasn’t taking any chances.
She’d spent the night moving belongings upstairs and had her go-bag packed — yet again — to head to her daughter’s place on higher ground.
“I’ve done it several times. These are sandbags I had leftover from last time I hadn’t got rid of them. So I still have them left over from last time.
“It was only four months ago the last one so yeah.”
The weather bureau said the east coast low near the Hunter coast, which had been causing soaking rains to the south, was expected to break up but a broader coastal trough would hang around today.
It warned of heavy rainfall — 60-100 millimetres in six hours — and locally damaging winds gusting up to 90km/h for a great swathe of coastline stretching from south of Nowra to north of Newcastle, and west to Katoomba.
“Heavy rainfall will further contribute to flooding already being experienced, and increases the potential for landslides,” the bureau said, late on Sunday.
“The damaging winds may lead to debris on roads and provides the risk for trees toppling in softer soils.”
Parts of the state have already had a months’ rainfall in just hours, with the heaviest rain in 30 years falling in some areas.
“We are now facing dangers on multiple fronts,” Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke, said.
“Flash flooding, riverine flooding, and coastal erosion.”
The Windsor Bridge, which spans the overflowing Hawkesbury River closed and was about half a metre from going under early on Sunday night.
North Richmond Bridge was among others shut on Sunday morning and there were fears flooding could worsen with Georges River set to hit high tide at midnight.
“If your community has flooded in the past, please don’t necessarily wait for an evacuation order,” Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said on Sunday.
“If you were safe in 2021, do not assume you will be safe tonight. This is a rapidly evolving situation, and we could very well see areas impacted that have never experienced flooding before.”
The Nepean River at Penrith was also surging, with low-lying areas nearby given evacuation warnings.
Parts of Camden and Chipping Norton have already gone underwater.
Residents in parts of Woronora, Georges Hall, Lansvale, Moorebank, Warwick Farm and Emu Plains are among those affected as an overnight deluge hit swollen waterways.
Floodwater rescues as Sydney hit by heavy rain
A woman had to be rescued from Holsworthy, near Liverpool after wading through a reserve.
Another 15 people were rescued from their homes in Lansvale and one man said it was the fourth time this year he’d had to escape.
