NSW floods: Evacuation order remains for Camden, warnings in place Picton
The flood threat to Camden, located on Sydney’s southwest outskirts, has increased with an urgent evacuation order issued to more streets.
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The flood threat to semirural Camden, on Sydney’s southwest outskirts, has increased with an urgent evacuation order issued to more streets.
People on Exeter St (west of John St) and Milford Rd, Ellis Lane have been directed to leave by 12.30pm.
The historic town’s main road, Argyle St, has also been ordered to evacuate along with Mitchell St, Elizabeth St, Lerida St and Edward St.
‼ï¸Evacuation Order‼ï¸
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) March 8, 2022
Parts of Camden (Exeter Street west of John Street and Milford Road Camden West)
For more information visit👉https://t.co/t578A4vhe8pic.twitter.com/vfsFOeoPNR
Major flooding has already taken place near Exeter St, which is home of the popular Camden Town Farm.
An evacuation centre has been established at Narellan Child, Community and Family Centre, located at 20 Queen St, Narellan.
Camden SES called to 150 jobs after torrential rains
Macarthur residents battened down the hatches as intense rainfall and storms moved across the region on Monday night, with the State Emergency Service responding to more than 150 calls for assistance in Camden alone.
Evacuation orders remain in place for parts of Camden, while an evacuation warning is in place for some streets in Camden and also Picton’s CBD.
As SES volunteers informed Adrian De‘Athe on Tuesday afternoon an evacuation order was now in place for Lerida Ave, Camden and that he had 25 minutes to leave, he hoped the floodwaters would not enter his home.
Last Wednesday, the waters only came up to the back fence and Mr De‘Athe did not worry about the house as it sits 1.5m up from the ground.
“However, the sheds are a bit lower and I was worried about them,” he said.
“But we were lucky and it didn’t come up.
“Then last night, by 2am, the backyard and the side of the house was flooded.”
To be safe, Mr De’Athe moved household items to a higher location, took the valuables and went to stay with a neighbour who lived on higher ground.
“I came back at 6am and the water was at its peak but still hadn’t been in the house,” he said.
“Even though the sheds have been inundated and the contents have been lost, if I get away with just that I am cheering.
“I have lived here for 22 years, and have never had flooding like this.”
Mr De’Athe was ordered to evacuate by the SES due to concerns the water levels would rise.
As he prepared to leave, he said he only hoped it would stay out of the house.
“No matter what happens, I am grateful for this community,” Mr De’Athe said.
“I have had people stop by asking how they can help and offering me a place to stay.
“It’s a great community.”
Ben Geist has seen both his businesses grind to a halt as the region cops a deluge of rainfall.
He owns Utopian Lawns and runs 1st Serve Tennis Coaching alongside his dad.
“Since Monday last week, we haven’t been able to mow any lawns and there about 100 lawns that we were meant do but can’t because you are ankle deep in slosh,” Mr Geist said.
“Then last Tuesday afternoon, we started to get nervous so pulled what we could out of the tennis club and put the rest up high and the floodwaters came up.
“All eight courts went underwater and there was ankle-deep water in the club.”
Mr Geist said they spent the weekend cleaning out the courts and the club only to be evacuated on Monday night with the club once again flooded.
He said it was a “devastating” impact on the businesses with eight casual junior coaches and two casuals from his lawn mowing business out of work.
“They are without income until we can get started,” Mr Geist said.
“With both the lawns and the tennis we are so far behind that it could take a couple of months to catch up and that has a flow-on effect on the income too.”
Mr Geist has lived in Camden his whole life, and the current floods are the worst he has ever seen.
While the town has not had the forecast amount of rain, it’s uncertain what the future will bring.
“If we get a heavy deluge tonight, we could see the river come up quite quickly,” Mr Geist said.
“To my understanding, it’s still below the one in 20 floodline but if it pushes past that to the one in 100, there will be a lot of homes impacted and that will go under.
“The 2016 floods only went over one court, and that was the worst flood I had seen in my lifetime until this one.”
Mr Geist thanked the community for all their assistance and support, adding that Camden locals were fantastic when their fellow residents needed help.
Catherine Hardy, the co-owner of Budget Greenslips Camden, has run her business on Edward St for more than 30 years.
Tuesday was the first time she had seen the water levels so high.
“Last night we were helping people across the road get their horses out, so we left about 2.30am,” Ms Hardy said.
“We came back in at 5am this morning and it was flooded so we have started to empty out the truck yard and all of our computers out of the office.
“We have been here for 30 years. I have not actually seen it this high, but my husband has.”
Ms Hardy said it was stressful knowing even more rain could be incoming so the floodwaters could rise.
“They did the evacuation last night of all the residents,” she said.
“Other businesses were emptying their sites. I am sure we are all going to have a considerable amount of cleaning to do.
“Be safe everyone and band together like we always do.”
Ms Hardy and her team were planning out heading out to see where they could offer a hand in the community.
Some residents are still unable to access their homes with the floodwaters still high and evacuation orders in place.
David Skillen, the president of the Camden Falcons Football Club, said their building had been flooded for the second time in just under a week.
Last Wednesday afternoon, the committee, family and friends helped move the important items to the upper level.
When the floodwaters hit, there was about one foot of water on the bottom level of the club.
“Once that subsided, we started to clean up on Saturday and once again we had some volunteers,” Mr Skillen said.
“We cleaned it all out and hosed it all out, which unfortunately was probably a bit of a wasted effort given it has flooded again now.”
Terry Gordon, the chairman of Camden Sporties, said it was devastating to see the club overrun.
Last week, the floodwaters came close but did not impact the site, however their luck had run out this week.
“In the 20 years we have been here, we have never seen flooding like this at the club,” Mr Gordon said.
“We thought we would be fine, like we were last week but by the time we realised it was happening too fast and it was too late.
“A lot of the items that we would need to move need trucks and electricians to get them out, so the pokie machines are still in there.”
Mr Gordon said while the true extent of the impact would only be known when they could access the site, it was “heartbreaking”.
“We will need a lot of help to get it open again,” he said.
Belgenny Ave resident Sarah watched on nervously last week as the river levels rose and lapped at the pathway running in front of her house.
It was deja vu as she watched it happen again on Monday night.
“It came really fast across the field but then it slowed,” she said.
“We put sandbags out as protection and we parked all our cars higher up, and packed them in case we needed to go.”
Sarah said it was stressful to be on edge waiting to see if they would need to evacuate or not.
“There is always that bit of stress,” she said.
With forecasts for heavy rains continuing this afternoon, Campbelltown residents are being encouraged to remain vigilant of any localised flooding and to avoid any unnecessary travel.
Council are monitoring a small landslip at Wedderburn Road near the Wedderburn bridge and the road has been temporarily closed with works expected to be complete in a few hours.
Mayor George Greiss said with the “unusually strong weather event” that is set to continue, he strongly encourages everyone to keep an eye on updates from emergency services and limit any unnecessary travel.
“Throughout these past few days, SES and RFS volunteers have worked alongside Council staff and NSW Police to monitor road conditions and flood damage while responding to incidents as they occur.
“The first priority is ensuring the safety of the community until this weather event has passed and we will then get on with the job of cleaning up our streets and drainage over the coming days and weeks.”
SES Camden unit commander Edward Lancaster said crews had responded to more than 150 calls for assistance.
“We have had four flood-related rescues in the last two days within the Camden area,” he said.
“They involved people driving in floodwater and cattle trapped in floodwater out near the airport last night.”
Mr Lancaster said crews had also completed a lot of sandbagging jobs throughout the night and door knocking to alert residents to the evacuation orders.
“There are a few houses affected in Camden,” he said.
“The river was expected to get to 11.9 metres at 8am and at 7.30am it was sitting at 11.99m.”
Mr Lancaster said volunteer crews mobilised since February 27 when storms came through.
“I think this is our third week of being operational,” he said. “The volunteers are all working really hard.”
At 9.53pm, emergency services received calls to people trapped in cars on Menangle Rd Campbelltown.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews arrived to find three cars submerged in flood water, with four people reported trapped.
Two elderly occupants who were trapped in one vehicle were on their phone with relatives who were on the scene.
With flood water rising and the vehicle almost completely submerged, firefighters entered the water to reach the vehicle about 75 metres away.
Tools were relayed to the vehicle to allow firefighters to break windows to rescue the two occupants.
The two people were carried to safety by firefighters with the assistance of members of the public, and the rising water completely engulfed the vehicle minutes after the couple was rescued.
FRNSW crews checked the remaining vehicles to ensure no other people were trapped.
The elderly couple suffered only minor injuries and were taken by relatives for further treatment.
Camden Mayor Theresa Fedeli urged the community to take all safety messages seriously.
“Please stay safe,” she said.
“Council workers are working around the clock to help keep the community safety and when the recovery period comes we will know more of the damage.”
Cr Fedeli said it was sad to see Camden suffering like this again, but added the community was strong and would always rally after a crisis.
“It’s not only our community, I wish all the other communities affected safe and well too,” she said.
EVACUATION ORDERS AND WARNINGS
The areas ordered to evacuate by 9pm last night in Camden were Sheathers Lane, Kirkham Lane, Poplar Caravan Park, and Menangle Rd near Racecourse Rd.
An evacuation order was later given to Camden residents living on Peter Ave between Onslow Ave and Belgenny Ave, and Cawder Road between Barsden Street and Murray Street to get out by midnight.
A warning also remains in place for Picton CBD.
The NSW SES said residents need to be ready to move if they give an order to evacuate.
FLOOD WARNING
Heavy rainfall over the past week has renewed moderate to major flooding along the Upper Nepean River. The river is currently at levels similar to those experienced last week.
A moderate to major flood warning is still in place for the Hawkesbury Nepean Valley at Menangle, Camden, and Wallacia, Penrith.
The Nepean River at Menangle Bridge peaked at 15.91 metres around 1am Tuesday, with major flooding above the March 2021 event.
The river is currently at 13.54 metres and falling, but renewed rises are possible with forecast rain.
The Nepean River at Camden Weir peaked at 12.04 metres around 8.45am on Tuesday, with moderate flooding and more rises are possible with forecast rain.
The Nepean River at Wallacia Weir may exceed the major flood level of 11m this afternoon.
ROAD CLOSURES:
Due to flash flooding or floodwaters, multiple roads throughout the region have been closed. Residents are reminded not to drive through flooded areas.
CAMPBELLTOWN
- Bridge Cambridge Road, Glenfield
- Bridge Menangle Road, (intersection of Woodridge Rd), Menangle
- Broughton Pass, Appin
- Hurley Street, Campbelltown between Camden Road and Dumaresq Street
CAMDEN
- Anthony Road, Leppington
- Sheathers Lane, Camden (between Cawdor Road and The Old Oaks Road)
- Smalls Road at Sickles Creek, Grasmere
- Kirkham Lane, Kirkham
- Caroline Chisholm Drive, Camden South (between Nepean Ave and Paterson Street)
- Camden Valley Way, Narellan (between Macarthur Road and Camden View Drive)
- Peter Ave, Camden (corner of Onslow Ave)
- Belgenny Ave, Camden (between Peter Ave and Kelloway Ave)
- Onslow Oval, Camden
- Cawdor Road (Between Murray Street and Burragorang Road). Grasmere
- Exeter Street (Between John Street and Edward Street), Camden
- Cut Hill Road (Cobbitty Road Intersection), Cobbitty
- Harrington Street (Between Hilder Street and Lowe Crescent), Elderslie
- Argyle Street (Between Edward Street and Elizabeth Street), Camden
- Little Sandy Bridge, Camden
- Macquarie Grove Bridge, Kirkham
- Cobbitty Bridge, Cobbitty
- Cowpasture Bridge, Camden
Wollondilly Shire
- Blaxland Crossing (Wallacia Bridge)
- Oberon-Colong Stock Route
- Douglas Park Gorge, Douglas Park
- Broughton Pass, Appin
- Bents Basin Road (Causeway)
- Woodbridge Road (at the Remembrance Driveway roundabout), Menangle
- Werombi Road at Brownlow Hill (from Cobbitty Bridge to Stanhope Road)
- Menangle Bridge, Menangle
- Cawdor Road (from Doncaster Road to Ultimate Paintball)
- Cobbitty Bridge, Cobbitty
- Glendiver Road, The Oaks
- Station Street, Tahmoor (between Nattai Street and Bargo River Road)- residents only
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