Grey nomads travelling in many parts of New South Wales have been absolutely battered with a ‘potentially life-threatening’ deluge which has pushed a number of rivers to record flood levels.
The situation has been so bad that the authorities have taken the unusual step of urging people across regional NSW to effectively stay put.
“Normally we’re telling people to travel around NSW, but this weekend is an exception,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. “We just want everybody to stay around and close to their homes, to be safe and to follow those messages. This weekend is going to be quite severe.”
Major flooding is occurring along several major rivers, and properties have been inundated, roads have been closed, and power has been lost as wild weather lashes large areas.
The Mid North Cosast has been the worst affected with many areas evacuated as water levels rise.
The heavy rain is set to continue for a number of days, and inland NSW is also expected to get its share of the rain when a separate system moves in next week.
“We are seeing very intense, very heavy, potentially life-threatening rainfall happening on the mid-north coast right now,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM’s) Agata Imielska said. “We’re seeing rainfall totals of over 100mm falling in about an hour … that is very dangerous rainfall.”
People in low-lying areas in Kempsey have been evacuating, with those in low-lying areas along the lower Macleay River such as South West Rocks and Crescent Head already gone. People have also been warned they may need to evacuate some properties in Kings Point, the Macksville CBD and Bulahdelah.
Many residents in North Haven, Dunbogan, Camden Head, Laurieton, and Port Macquarie have also been ordered to leave, with a ‘significant’ number of properties expected to be inundated there.
Many people staying in caravan parks have also been ordered to get out, In Nambucca, emergency personnel were needed to rescue people at the Pelican Caravan Park. Similarly, the SES was called out to evacuate the Gloucester Caravan Park there as the Gloucester River flooded. In Port Macquarie, it was expected that low-lying parts of the Aquatic Gardens and Marina Caravan Parks would be inundated as the Hasting River overflowed. At Dunbogan, the Diamond Waters Caravan Park was set to be inundated as the Camden Haven River flooded, and it was a similar story at the Brigadoon Caravan Park.in North Haven.
The storm system is now tracking south and people in Sydney are being told to hunker down.
The BOM’s Agata Imielska said the falls in the NSW capital would be significantly more intense than in recent days.
“This will be the difference between what could seem like inconvenient rain, to actually something that might be quite dangerous and threatening,” she said.
And how’s the Darling River going?