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Approximately 30,000 households are experiencing power outages in Newcastle and the NSW central coast as intense rain impacts much of the state’s shoreline. In Wamberal, certain residents have been advised to evacuate.
The State Emergency Services (SES) has advised central coast residents to remain indoors if conditions are safe, refrain from non-essential travel, and to never drive through floodwaters.
NSW SES deputy commissioner Debbie Platz has warned residents across the Australian east coast to prepare for “significant, widespread, dynamic and complex” heavy rains and strong winds this week, urging them to consider today as their “last opportunity to be prepared”.
Low pressure is expected to build along the NSW coast on Tuesday before intensifying on Wednesday.
Persistent rainfall is likely to occur from Port Macquarie down the NSW coast to eastern parts of Victoria on Wednesday, with 100-200mm expected in several areas.
Millions of people living from Coffs Harbour to Bega, about 800km to the south, are in the projected path of a rapidly intensifying low-pressure system located off the NSW north coast, expected to bring destructive winds reaching up to 110 kilometers per hour.
The rapidly deepening system is known as a “bomb cyclone”, though the meteorological term is generally used sparingly so as not to incite panic, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
It has already sparked strong winds and hazardous surf with up to 120mm of rain expected to lash greater Sydney alone by Tuesday evening.
Major disruptions have been experienced at Sydney Airport, with 21 departure flights and 19 arrivals cancelled so far on Tuesday.
The weather bureau has issued flood watch warnings for southern parts of the mid-north coast, Hunter, Hawkesbury-Nepean, Sydney Illawarra Coast and Snowy catchments.
However, the SES indicated that the primary concern is flash flooding due to the swift movement of this weather system, unlike the slow, relentless rain that hit the mid-north coast earlier this year.
“It is fast-moving and very different to recent events that we have seen in NSW, what we expect is the rain will be very rapid, it will be heavy and it will be short and sharp,” Platz said.
“While we are concerned about riverine flooding, the most impact from this significant rainfall will be flash flooding, and this is likely to occur anywhere from Newcastle, Sydney and in the Illawarra region.”
The SES had more than 900 calls since 5am on Monday, and responded to more than 600 incidents.
Most of the calls were from people preparing properties for an inundation, but many were relating to damage caused by fallen trees.
The peak impact of the system is forecast to happen on Wednesday, and there’s a risk of flash flooding at Wallis Lake, near Taree on the mid-north coast.
Taree was one of the towns hard hit by floods in May that killed five people and damaged thousands of properties.
The mid-north coast region is an area of concern for emergency services because the soil is still saturated from the May floods.
The deepening coastal low would also result in dangerous beach conditions, coastal erosion and damage to the NSW coast from Seal Bay to Batemans Bay, the bureau warned.
Coastal communities were being urged to prepare ahead of the storm by tying down loose items and moving cars away from trees.
Rain rates and winds are expected to ease on Wednesday and ocean swells should ease on Thursday.
