Floodwater flowing through Penrith on Sunday, July 3. Source: Weather zone via @willf314159, Instagram.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has said that although weather is easing, parts of New South Wales are still at risk of major flooding.
BOM has detailed that Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers are already experiencing major flooding with nearby Menangle and Wallacia heavily affected.
Hawkesbury river at North Richmond is seeing a water level high of 13.9m, almost 12m higher than it was two days ago.
They expect further flooding in the Windsor, Lower Portland, and Wiseman Ferry areas but have said that 23 local government areas are affected after more than 100mm of rain fell in less than 24 hours.
Among heavy rainfall are extreme wind gusts with the past few days experiencing up to 100km/s winds.
Dozens of evacuation orders are in place according to the State Emergency Services (SES) who said they have received over 4,000 help requests and conducted over 140 rescue operations, most of whom had driven into flooded waters.
“Overnight and in the last couple of days, we have seen people that have not evacuated early, haven’t evacuated with enough time and that’s meant we’ve had to go in and rescue them because the roads have become flooded,” said SES deputy state duty commander Ashley Sullivan.
Assistant Commissioner Dean Storey has urged people to avoid unnecessary travel however said they should be prepared to evacuate if needed.
“In many areas it is still an evolving flood situation, and we may see more rain than what was originally forecast.
“Have an emergency kit ready to go with warm clothes, important documents, medications, laptops, phones and charges.”
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet declared the flooding an official natural disaster with funding been approved by the federal and state governments for disaster assistance.
People in affected areas are able to apply if they meet the eligibility criteria.
Nine evacuation centres have been set up across the state with SES Commissioner Carlene York having said that despite BOM saying weather will ease, it doesn’t mean that flooding will subside.
“It’s still dangerous out there.
“It can change quite dramatically. Just because it’s not raining doesn’t mean the catchments aren’t filling up.”
