NSW floods: Heavy rain and flooding set to continue for several days
Suburbs surrounding the Hawkesbury River are nervously bracing for more flooding today amid a “once-in-50-years” rainfall event.
NSW
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A once-in-50-year weather event has pounded large areas of Western Sydney with Hawkesbury River water levels expected to reach 16m at Richmond today.
The deluge will continue to pound the city and the rest of the state for at least another couple of days with the mid-north coast taking a once-in-a-century battering.
One man and woman were rescued from the roof of their home in Windsor near the new Hawkesbury River Bridge which was closed and underwater as many others were left standing knee-deep in water in their homes.
Residents in Emu Plains watched on in horror as floodwaters rose to extreme levels, swallowing streets and lapping at their doors.
Ms Berejiklian said the authorities’ fears for people in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley were fuelled by “the sustained rainfall (and) the fact that the weather event has settled in”, as well as water spilling out of Warragamba Dam.
“This is different. What we’re going through now is different to what you’ve been through for the last 50 years,” she said.
“Please take it seriously. If you were put on high alert the last time there was a flooding incident and your house was OK, don’t assume it’ll be OK this time.”
Last night the State Emergency Service issued evacuation orders for the western part of Jamisontown, the northern end of Mulgoa and western parts of Penrith as floodwaters pushed the Nepean River to its highest level since 1961.
The Hawkesbury River at Richmond could today reach higher than 16m with flooding expected at Penrith, Windsor, Sackville, Lower Portland and Wisemans Ferry.
Ms Berejiklian said between 3000 and 4000 people may be asked to evacuate “over the next few days” if conditions in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley worsen.
“That’s why we’re asking people in those communities to be on high alert,” she said.
Bureau of Meteorology flood operations manager Justin Robinson said: “It is bigger than the February 2020 flood. It is bigger than the 1988 flood. It is bigger than the 1990 flood and is bigger than the 1964 flood … It’s one of the biggest floods we are likely to see for a very long time.
“Floodwater at Penrith is expected to then move downstream and impact those communities, at North Richmond, Windsor, Sackville, and further downstream.”
Kellee and Steve Wilson’s home was the first on Bellevue St at Regentville to go underwater.
Mrs Wilson has lived there since she was a child.
“The highest I’ve ever known it to be is about up to shoulder height in 1977,” she said.
“There’s not much you can do. The floor is all tiled, you just have to deal with it.
“At 8am it hit the back fence, and then at 10am there is a concrete area out the back and it hit that.
“And then once it hit there it came through straight into the house. We didn’t sandbag, there’s no point.”
The SES conducted a number of rescues through the day, one involving two teenagers at a dam and another of two stranded goats.
Emergency Services Minister David Elliott issued a warning for people not to take unnecessary risks with the likelihood of a fatality increasing. “Do not put yourselves in danger,” he said.
“I am horrified to think that there are unnecessary flood rescues going on.
“With the damage that’s been done across the road network in this state, a fatality is getting more and more likely.”
Jan Ford and husband Bob looked at each other in confusion when they heard a loud rumble outside at 10am yesterday.
Despite being well out of reach of the Nepean River’s floodwaters, the relentless rain of the past few days had led to a landslide in their front yard. With concrete steps, wooden sleepers, trees and even a dog bowl all sent crashing down the hill, it left a messy clean up for Mr Ford and his grandkids.
Farm worker Daren Weber was caught up in the storms while travelling to Sydney for an emergency cancer operation — he is now trapped as the water rises. He and his partner, and dog Buddy, are living in their campervan outside the evacuation centre at Richmond.
“We started to get these emergency texts late last night, we were a bit alarmed that’s for sure,” he said.
On the Blue Mountains side of the Nepean River, the water began rising over parts of River Rd by 10am yesterday and by lunchtime was lapping at Jim Hetherington’s driveway and threatening to sweep away the 70 fish in his front yard pond.
Deciding to try and save their fish, Mr Hetherington, his wife and their son tried frantically to use nets and hats to scoop them into buckets as the water level rose rapidly.
“As it gets higher I think it’s going to be hard to get out, and they’re saying it’s going to keep raining for the next three days,” he said.
“We might have to go now.”
Graham “Lonnie” Lonard grew up on the river and said he has not seen it so high in decades, watching as debris and uprooted trees crashed into the closed new Windsor Bridge.
“The raw power of the thing, it just sucks people in, they can’t look away,” he said. “We always knew the region would cop it.”
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