Joint state-federal disaster recover package announced as clean-up begins after monster NSW storm
A joint state and federal recovery package has been announced to help residents recover from the storms that ravaged NSW. The black nor’easter that pummelled NSW’s coast has left thousands cleaning up inundated homes, cars and roads.
NSW
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Disaster assistance for flood ravaged areas along the NSW east coast has been rolled out by the state and Federal governments as almost 1000 residents in Sydney’s northwest were evacuated overnight.
This comes as the NSW floods have been declared a natural disaster.
In a joint statement, acting federal Emergency Management Minister Catherine King and NSW Emergency Services Minister Jihad Did announced that assistance had been unlocked through the jointly run Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Affected communities in the Blue Mountains, Camden, Hawkesbury, Kiama, Liverpool, Penrith, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Sutherland, Upper Lachlan, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly and Wollongong local government areas will now be eligible for the disaster recovery funding.
The funding will go towards assisting residents to pay for emergency accommodation and helping councils cleanup and repair damaged assets.
Ms King said floods had caused widespread damage across NSW in a very short amount of time.
“It’s important that we act quickly to activate disaster support so affected communities can begin their clean-up and recovery,” she said.
Mr Dib acknowledged the efforts of the emergency, noting more than 4000 volunteers had been on hand to help the community.
“This is a good day,” he said on Sunday afternoon at the Windsor Bridge.
“They (NSW SES Volunteers) have completed 5000 task jobs and 200 flood rescues.
“We’ve been quite fortunate in the sense today we didn’t need to close the Windsor Bridge which is fantastic for the local community.
“That doesn’t mean the water danger or threat of flood is over.
Mr Dib said he is confident communities that all require assistance are being helped.
“The State Emergency Service has continued to work throughout the night to reach out to communities and I’m confident that with the work they’ve been doing, that we are being incredibly proactive,” he said.
“Work to assess the impact of flooding across the state is being conducted as quickly as possible, with disaster declarations like these a crucial first step in unlocking assistance.”
Residents will have access to grants to help restore essential household items and to undergo repairs to damaged homes.
Mr Minns on Sunday said he believes the weather event will soon be declared as a disaster.
“We expect a natural disaster declaration will be declared later this morning,” he told media on Sunday.
“This means federal and state funds will flow to local councils as well as communities that have been knocked over.”
Parts of the state were hit with up to 180mm of rain in just one night, with fears the Warragamba Dam is still set to overflow for more than a week.
NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York APM said warnings are still being issued for areas including Sackville, Ebenezer, Lower Portland, Pitt Town Bottoms, Cumberland Reach, Gronos Point, parts of Leets Vale, Cattai and Cornwallis.
“Today we’ve still got a lot of flood water around.
“We’ve got over 60 warnings out to the community to make sure that we’re keeping them safe and there are some areas where the evacuations are still current.
“We’re not expecting the water to subside until this afternoon and tomorrow.
“We don’t expect the water at the Windsor Bridge level to up. We’ve informed by the Bureau the river had peaked.”
Member for Hawkesbury Robyn Preston member said it was important the Minister visit the flood affected community.
“This is our seventh flood and I think it’s important for our Minister to see what we’re going through here,” she said.
CLEAN UP BEGINS AS FLOOD RISK REMAINS
NSW SES crews have spent Sunday assessing and attending to damage in areas including the Illawarra, Northern Beaches, West of Penrith and sections along the Hawkesbury-Nepean, with properties lashed by rain over the weekend.
As water subsides in these areas, SES crews remain on high alert for flooding which has continued along the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, with major flooding at North Richmond.
Windsor Bridge remains open, however is expected to close as the river continues to rise.
“Patrols in flood affected areas and welfare checks on isolated residents are also on the list for today,” NSW SES wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning.
In the last 24 hours, the NSW SES received 1,877 incidents including 146 flood rescues. 98 warnings remain in place including 23 emergency warnings.
Requests for help have included “fallen trees in premises, leaking roofs, flooded basements, fallen trees blocking roads, unblocking road drains and flood water assistance.”
Not only did the Penrith NSW SES crews rescue people and property on Saturday night, they also saved a flock of sheep and other farm animals stuck in flood waters.
“The SES crews did multiple trips back and forth and managed to round up 21 sheep well into the dark between flood waters and a major road,” a Penrith SES spokesperson said.
Blue skies above, chaos on the ground
It was the blue-sky flood that offered hope if you looked up, but on the ground thousands were counting the cost of inundated homes, cars stranded and streets turned into creeks.
A “black nor’easter” storm hit with full force late on Friday and into the early hours of Saturday morning, dumping a total of more than 300mm of rain in some areas along the coast.
By 9am Saturday, Brogers Creek weather station in the Illawarra recorded a whopping 328mm rain in 48 hours.
Wahroonga was the wettest suburb in Sydney during the 48 hours, recording 285mm rain, while Penrith copped 252mm — five times the monthly average.
It was a huge night for the State Emergency Service (SES), with volunteers evacuating homes, performing more than 150 flood rescues and responding to 4000 calls for assistance.
Crews in the Illawarra were called to a job most of them had never come across before, after an Airbnb housing two guests washed down Mt Keira due to the force of the rain.
The cabin was ripped from its foundation on Koloona Ave after Byarong Creek broke its banks, before smashing into a bridge and breaking apart.
A man and woman in their 20s were inside, but made a “miraculous escape” with nothing more than cuts and bruises, according to a NSW Ambulance spokesperson.
Illawarra mum Lisa Meredith woke at 5am to find her backyard had been swallowed by a rushing creek, saying it was the worst flood her Fairy Meadow property had experienced since 1998.
“I woke up to popping noises – it was the Colorbond fence collapsing,” she said.
“Then I heard a scraping sound which was the swim spa being pushed by surging water up onto the deck.”
While her clean up was huge, Ms Meredith said she was glad her daughters and neighbours were OK.
The wild weather hit Sydney’s western suburbs hard, causing mass road closures, delays and rescues.
A man’s body was found in flood waters at Penrith on Saturday morning, though the cause of his death is still being investigated by police.
In Londonderry, Rachelle Kitchener spent Friday night sick with worry, unable to sleep as she kept up with the flood warnings.
At 5am the creek behind her home broke its banks and surged toward her home, turning it into a floating island in the middle of a murky brown river of floodwater.
“It’s just terrifying, we did everything to prepare but it doesn’t get any easier,” she said.
“You see all that water coming up and you wonder how high it will get. This one really shocked me.”
Under the cloudless blue sky she spent Saturday surveying the damage, with the flood sending huge amounts of debris onto her property and pulling down a fence.
Chantel McDonald’s property nearby was split in two by the floodwaters, forcing her to move her horses, cars and floats to higher ground.
While her family had been preparing for the impending flood since Thursday, she said it didn’t help her anxiety as she watched the water levels rise.
“The worst flood we’ve had was in 2011,” she said.
The first suburb in greater Sydney to face evacuation was Chipping Norton, with residents in low-lying areas ordered to leave by midnight on Friday.
However, local resident Steve Arnold said the broken banks of the Georges River caused “more of a nuisance” than a flood.
He moved all his property to higher ground, but in the end the water didn’t even creep up his driveway.
“A good result,” he said.
But Premier Chris Minns warned the danger was far from over, urging people not to be fooled by the clear skies.
“While it does look like blue skies across Sydney at the moment and the emergency rain situation seems to be easing … it’s important to note that flood levels in some of the rivers, particularly in Western Sydney, are continuing to rise,” he said.
The threat of flooding was still a big concern below Warragamba Dam, which began to spill before 6am on Friday — two days earlier than first predicted — after more than 130mm of rain fell over the catchment.
“Warragamba Dam is spilling at a rate of around 200 gigalitres per day with that rate continuing to rise,” a Water NSW spokesperson said.
“With the flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley, the spill will contribute to the flood waters already in the system.”
By Saturday evening, more than 109 flood warnings remained in place from Sydney to the NSW South Coast.
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