NSW weather: Sydney bracing for its heaviest rain this summer
Get your wellies on, Sydney, because the grey clouds are here to stay, bringing the heaviest rain in months over the weekend. Already, parts of NSW have recorded more than 100mm.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Sorry ScoMo pays respect to families of dead firefighters
- Rain is sweet relief for a burnt, dry country
Sydney is bracing for some of the heaviest rain this summer as a rain bomb breaks over NSW on Saturday.
The forecast comes after three NSW regions on Friday recorded more than 100mm of rain within a 24 hours period.
Palen Creek, Bulahdelah and Boonanghi, in NSW’s north, all received a welcome drenching on Friday, with Bulahdelah recording 112mm.
Dozens of other regions along the NSW east coast recorded more than 50mm in the past day.
Rain is predicted to bucket down on Saturday, with about 15-25mm forecast to fall in the Sydney basin. If the downpour comes to bear, the rain will be the heaviest since November.
Saturday’s rain will be heaviest in NSW’s north around Grafton, where 25-50mm of rain is forecast. The area has not seen rain like this since March 2019.
The last time anywhere in NSW received more than 100mm of rain in a 24-hour period was in September, when the Barrington Tops received 105mm.
IN PICTURES: RELIEF FINALLY RAINS DOWN ON NSW
On Friday, wet weather caused havoc on some roads, with long southbound delays on the M1 Pacific Motorway in Mount White due to flooding.
At 11am, traffic was backed up more than an hour in both directions as major flooding cut off sections of the busy freeway.
By 9.30am southbound traffic was queued 15km to the Gosford exit. Two Northbound lanes were also cut off by floodwaters on the other side of the freeway at Mount White, just past Morgan’s Road.
Thursday’s downpour brought relief to bone-dry and fire-ravaged land across NSW, slashing the number of fires to 86 on Thursday and giving fire crew some reprieve.
The wet weather helped ease conditions at the Green Wattle Creek and Gospers Mountain fires and could see some downgraded, according to a Rural Fire Service (RFS) spokesman.
Keep that rain dance going! 🌧 - Pic: Robertson RFS. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/B5f66kclkt
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 16, 2020
But authorities have warned that these conditions come with a new danger - falling ‘widow maker’ trees.
A falling gum tree was responsible for the tragic death of young dads Geoff Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer in December.
Firefighters are being urged to be extra vigilant with the rain causing some trees to dislodge from the damp, fire-ravaged soil.
“It’s something we’re always concerned about, something that at this end of the season that can become really dangerous,” an RFS spokesman said.
The trees could also cause last-minute road closures, authorities say.
Firefighters are hoping the rain will drench parts of the state’s south coast, where the RFS say rain has so far only been nuisance-value, forcing crews to postpone back-burns.
At 8am, there are 99 fires burning across the state, all at advice level.
