Heavy rain to smash east coast, as cyclone brings hazardous surf

NSW is in for another significantly wet week, while a tropical cyclone will bring hazardous surf for southeast Queensland.

Heavy rain and storms are headed for Sydney, with the wet weather forecast to really pick up on the state’s south coast from Wednesday afternoon.

Sky News Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the rain on Wednesday night would be felt on the NSW south coast and into Sydney, before spreading up through the ranges and the slopes on Thursday.

“Heavy falls are a serious threat. So, flash flooding on Thursday is quite a risk because it’s already so wet underfoot in many areas, particularly closer to the coastline, such as in Sydney,” he said.

“So flash flooding, especially if any thunderstorms develop, could be significant.”

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Thursday will bring heavy rain for NSW. Picture: Sky News Weather

The wet weather is expected to continue into the weekend with showers along the NSW coast and parts of southeast Queensland.

“Through into Saturday and Sunday there’s a little bit of an easing trend with that wet weather as it gets taken out to sea,” Mr Sharpe said.

Looking at the eight day rain total forecast, Sydney, Wollongong and areas down into Batemans Bay are likely to see more than 100mm of rain, with potential for totals as high as 200mm.

Eight day rain total forecast. Picture: Sky News Weather

“In terms of the flooding, I’m expecting minor to moderate Riverine flooding for quite a few rivers in that region and there’s a chance one or two rivers might reach major flood levels in a couple of locations,” Mr Sharpe said.

NSW SES is urging residents to prepare and take care around flood waters after having already responded to more than 31,400 calls for help and having undertaken more than 2200 flood rescues over the past six weeks.

“It is likely parts of NSW including the central coast, Sydney, the Illawarra (region) and south coast will experience heavy rainfall in a short time period,” NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Dean Storey said.

“This means we will see flash flooding occur where roads could become flooded quite quickly.

“The majority of the flood rescues the NSW SES carried out recently were for people who got caught in their cars in rising flood waters.”

In contrast, the north, centre and west of the country is in for a fairly dry week.

Tropical cyclone nears Queensland

There is a tropical cyclone threat for New Caledonia, but Mr Sharpe said Australia won’t see too much of an impact.

“It may briefly move into Australian waters but even if it does that I think we’ll just see a few showers and gusty winds around southeast Queensland,” he said.

However, waves will be bigger and more powerful when hitting the coastline.

“Hazardous surf is guaranteed for southeast Queensland and the far north coast of NSW,” Mr Sharpe said, adding there may be a severe weather warning from the Bureau of Meteorology depending on how close the system is to the coastline and its intensity.

The tropical cyclone is expected to bring big waves to the coast. Picture: Sky News Weather

Flood death

A 66-year-old man has died after being swept away in flood waters in rural Victoria on Monday after a weekend of heavy rainfall in Gippsland.

Police were told a Nissan Patrol attempted to cross a river crossing near Sullivan Track, Thomson, when the driver got into difficulty and his car dropped in what appeared a deep section of the crossing. The 4WD was swept away and inundated with water.

Search and Rescue Squad divers located the driver inside his submerged vehicle on Tuesday morning.

Around the country

In Brisbane, the worst of the wet weather is forecast from Thursday, but showers will ease on Sunday.

Canberra can also expect to cop heavy rain on Thursday with showers set to ease on Friday.

In Victoria, there is a possible light shower on Wednesday, but it should be dry for the rest of the week. It will heat up on the weekend, with a top of 26C on Saturday and Sunday.

In Hobart, it should remain dry from Wednesday. Saturday is expected to be dry and sunny with a top of 25C, and then Sunday will bring showers.

From Wednesday, Adelaide looks mainly dry climbing to 29C on Sunday.

Over in Perth, the mercury is forecast to climb to 32C on Thursday before a cold front on Friday night brings cooler temperatures.

In Darwin, there’s chance of a storm on Wednesday, but it will be mainly dry until the end of the week.

Next week

After the wet weather subsides in NSW on the weekend, cold fronts are expected across southeastern parts of the country into the start of next week.

“That will bring some showers into South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and maybe a little bit for NSW as well depending on how strong those systems are,” Mr Sharpe said.