Blue Mountains weather: SES respond to 399 callouts across region
The Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury SES units were flat out over the weekend, after more than 670 mm of rain - but a university professor has expressed his concern that none fell over Warragamba Dam wall.
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The Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury State Emergency Service (SES) units have received 399 calls for assistance since last Wednesday after more than 670mm of rain fell across the region.
Mt Victoria Public School remains closed without power, the North Richmond, Windsor and Yarramundi bridges are currently a water trap and traffic remains affected in both directions at Blaxland after wires came down at Layton Ave and the Great Western Highway.
Train passengers have also been impacted with buses replacing trains along the Blue Mountains line following a landslip between Leura and Katoomba on Sunday afternoon.
“Sydney Trains engineers have stabilised the track and are investigating the extent of the significant damage to the rail infrastructure,” a Sydney Trains spokesman told The Blue Mountains News. “A full engineering assessment is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.”
A NSW SES spokeswoman said the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury SES units attended 47 call-outs just from 6pm last night to 6am today. “We’ve had six flood rescues since midnight Wednesday, with the majority of callouts for leaking and damaged roofs and trees down across roofs and roads,” she said.
Yesterday the Great Western Highway was blocked for hours at Springwood after a tree came down.
The latest flood rescue by the SES Hawkesbury Unit involved saving a bus driver and six children caught in flood water in a bus on Reedy Rd in Maraylya this morning. The NSW SES spokeswoman said volunteers have also been kept busy sandbagging.
On Facebook Blue Mountains SES incident controller John Hughes said, “A large percentage of properties are not designed to cope with this amount of rainfall and it was impossible for emergency services to attend to each call for sandbags.
“As the community recovers from this event, the NSW SES recommends that home owners should review any water issues, especially drainage systems an seek assistance from insurance companies and professional trades persons to prepare your property for future weather events.”
Commenting on the flooding across western Sydney, Professor Jamie Pittock of the Australian National University said it was of concern not a single drop of flood water passed over Warragamba Dam wall yesterday.
“People were evacuated, bridges were blocked and the Hawkesbury River rose by over 10 metres, yet none of the flood water came over Warragamba Dam which the (state) government keeps telling us needs to be raised urgently,” Prof Pittock said.
“Evacuation roads in western Sydney are urgently needed to ensure people can get out in time and new suburban development on floodplains need to stop.”
For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 13 25 00.
For the latest information on road conditions visit www.livetraffic.com.