Floods in Sydney: Photos show extent of severe weather
Sydney schoolkids watched with excitement as dangerous floods washed away a car outside their classroom in the city’s northern beaches.
Overnight bursts of heavy rain have blasted Sydney, with more severe weather predicted overnight as the northern beaches is hit with flash flooding and landslides.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a severe thunderstorm warning for several areas of Sydney, with fears that the intense rainfall “is likely to lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding”.
At NBSC Mackellar Girls’ Campus in Manly Vale, footage taken from inside a classroom showed a car being washed away by rising floodwaters.
Commuters and motorists have been told to avoid all non-essential travel with Sydney’s public transport system warning of delays and cancellations.
Severe weather warnings have been issued for parts of the Hunter, Metropolitan Sydney, Illawarra, south coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands and parts of Mid North Coast, South West Slopes, Snowy Mountains and Australian Capital Territory.
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Students watch car float away outside classroom
Teenage girls watched as a white hatchback was lifted off the ground outside their classroom at Mackellar Girls’ Campus in Manly Vale.
“It’s going in a pretty straight line, to be honest,” one of the students could be heard saying in footage circulated on social media. “They better have insurance.”
The SES were called to the school after three cars were spotted floating in floodwaters from nearby Manly Lagoon.
Mackellar Girls campus flooded and thankfully now evacuated. Here's footage of students reacting to the sight of a free-floating vehicle bobbing past their classroom window
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) March 8, 2022
Via the Manly Observerhttps://t.co/YMjvpZjCG9#nswfloods#sydneystormpic.twitter.com/Fnev4j9V3v
Major motorway filled with water
A section of a major Sydney motorway appears to have flooded.
Motorists travelling along the M5 Citybound tunnel to Sydney airport shared footage of the flooded motorway on Monday night.
Currently a large stretch of the 29km motorway has been closed due to flooding. Both directions on the M5 East Motorway between King Georges Rd and General Holmes Dr from Beverly Hills to Mascot has been unavailable to drivers since Monday afternoon.
Evacuation warning for 2,000 in Manly
Thousands of residents in Manly have been placed on high alert after the NSW SES issued an amber alert for Manly Dam.
This comes after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet warned an evacuation order would be iminent after dam began to overflow.
However the NSW SES shortly amended the previous alert after the water levels began to drop. The warning is expected to impact around 2000 people.
“Evacuation Warning is in effect for low-lying properties near Manly Dam,” read a tweet shared by NSW SES.
“A previous alert has been amended as there has been a drop in water levels at Manly Dam.”
Manly Dam spilling this morning. Thats my office just downstream #sydneyfloodspic.twitter.com/12uPVxXNum
— Mitchell Harley (@DocHarleyMD) March 7, 2022
Ceiling collapses at major shopping centre
Over in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, a portion of the ceiling at Bondi Junction Westfield has collapsed.
Sydney journalist Kerri Sackville shared an image from the shopping centre in which a panel is missing from the ceiling.
“Well, I just nearly got killed by a collapsing roof in Westfield bondi junction. Just missed it,” she tweeted.
Well, I just nearly got killed by a collapsing roof in Westfield bondi junction. Just missed it. pic.twitter.com/IYArNtY2vy
— Kerri Sackville (@KerriSackville) March 8, 2022
Footage shared by ABC journalist James Valentine showed chunks of the ceiling on the escalators however no shoppers appeared to be hurt or injured.
This collapsing ceiling at Westfield Bondi Junction, missed me by two metres! pic.twitter.com/pyxBF1YXIS
— James Valentine (@Valentine702) March 8, 2022
Sydney in chaos
Footage across social media also show the city in chaos. One video on Twitter taken on Milperra Rd in Bankstown, roughly 1km from the Georges River, showed the street entirely flooded. Taken overnight, the water levels had reached thigh height. The cars parked on the street were inundated with water.
Western Sydney
— @Georgebakhos1 (@GeorgeBakhos1) March 7, 2022
Floods ( very rare that floods happen in this part ) pic.twitter.com/IB42cFz6Nb
Crew from Rhodes Fire Station were called to the suburb of Birrong after a flashflood tore through some parts of the subburb. One home on Larien St was inundated with kneehigh water that was strong enough to burst through the front door.
Incredible footage from Fire and Rescue NSW showed the water rushing along the corridor, dragging furniture and other items along the way.
Responding to the situation fighfighters turned off the power supply to the homes, removed compromised power boards and helped residents to bail out as much water as they could.
In the nearby suburb of Hurstville, the ceiling of an Aldi supermarket dramatically gave in after water was seen dripping from the lights.
One resident in Condell Park in Sydney’s Canterbury-Bankstown, roughly 22km from the CBD, posted footage of the indoor flooding.
“We are flooding in Condell Park #NSW and SES are not picking up and the water is inside now all over the house!” he tweeted.
We are flooding in Condell Park #NSW and SES are not picking up and the water is inside now all over the house!@NSWSES@7NewsSydney@9NewsAUS@abcnews@BOM_NSW@SBSNews#NSWFloods#NSW#floods#sydneyfloods#sydneypic.twitter.com/OM1mco0lXn
— Nasem Allam (@nasemallam) March 7, 2022
— Nasem Allam (@nasemallam) March 7, 2022
#sydneyfloods#NSWFloods@NSWSES@7NewsSydney@9NewsAUS@BOM_NSW#condellpark#bankstownpic.twitter.com/8uVdho5pOp
— Nasem Allam (@nasemallam) March 7, 2022
For everyone complaining about Sydney trains not working when there's "a little bit of rain". This is the situation at Campbelltown at the moment. #nswfloodspic.twitter.com/tFcbR7fzyp
— 💀 (@highway278) March 7, 2022
Sydney’s inner-west suburb of Marrickville is also reporting heavy flooding due to flooding from the Cooks River. The Marrickville Unit of the NSW SES is reporting localised flooding in several streets and parks.
More evacuation orders for Camden
Residents living in several streets in Camden have also been ordered to evacuate. Orders began on Monday afternoon due to flooding from the Upper Nepean River.
So far orders have been issued for:
- Exeter Street west of John Street
- Milford Road Camden West
- Cawder Road between Barsden Street and Murray Street
- Peter Avenue between Onslow Avenue and Belgenny Avenue
- Sheathers Lane
- Kirkham Lane
- Menangle Road near Racecourse Road may be isolated
- Poplar Caravan Park
Photos shared by residents on Tuesday morning showed paddock and parts of the equestrian centre and cricket facility completely underwater.
Camden absolutely coping it at the moment. Nepean River right up this morning cutting the town off in several locations. A number of homes in this street have already gone under half a metre. Rain, rain go away 🥴@9NewsSydpic.twitter.com/4wNkM4zhL7
— James Wilson (@WesternWilson9) March 7, 2022
Two bodies found in Sydney’s west
Police have found the bodies of a woman and man in a stormwater canal in Sydney’s western suburb of Wentworthville.
Officers are currently attending the scene and the bodies have not been indentified.
This comes as NSW Police issued a public plea to help find a mum and son after a car was found in a stormwater canal in Cooper Creek, Wenworthville on Monday afternoon. It’s understood the bodies were found close to where the vehicle was discovered.
Roads closures sweep the city
Live Traffic NSW also shared images of flood-affected areas, after nearly two dozen roads were closed due to the severe weather. Affected areas stretched from Hinchinbrook and Bexley North in city’s southwest, to the northwest areas of Galston, Windsor and Hornsby Heights and Liverpool in Western Sydney.
A photo taken of Windsor Road near the Windsor Bridge showed the entire street flooded, with the water levels rising upwards of traffic lights.
Road closures around Wollongong in the Illawarra region of NSW have also caused a lengthy pileup of trucks. Northbound lanes of the M1 have been closed at Mount Ousley due to flooding concerns near Memorial Drive. The shutdown was made as a precautionary measure after a nearby dam exceeded capacity.
Stretches of the Illawarra Highway between Robertson and Moss Vale are also out of action due to a sinkhole at Burrawang.
Traffic chaos #wollongong - north bound Mt Ousley closed because concerns abt private dam - heavy trucks can’t go up Bulli Pass - trucks queued for 100’s of metres pic.twitter.com/PQKBTOHf4Q
— kelly fuller (@kelfuller) March 7, 2022
Twitter user, Jason Andrade reported seeing 50 to 70 trucks on the Princes Motorway plus an additional 20 vehicles on the Northern Distributor.
“There appear to be about 50-70 trucks now pulled up alongside the Princes Motorway and another 20 on the Distributor due to the Mount Ousley closure in #wollongong,” he wrote.
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