‘No let up’: New South Wales braces for severe weather

More than a dozen cities are bracing to be belted by a huge storm crossing a large section of NSW.

A huge portion of New South Wales is bracing for heavy rain and flash flooding as a storm surges across the state with warnings in place on Wednesday evening for more than a dozen cities including Sydney.

The torrential downfall comes after a week of persistent rain has caused flash flooding in northern NSW and Lismore.

The long list of cities and regions expecting to be belted includes Newcastle, Canberra, Gosford, Wollongong, Nowra, Batemans Bay, Armidale, Orange, Goulburn, Tamworth, Moree, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Albury.

Wyrallah Rd in East Lismore was submerged on Wednesday.

Intense rainfall covered parts of NSW on Wednesday following a sustained downpour in various regions since the beginning of the week.

Images captured at East Lismore detail the extent of the flash flooding, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning more is expected heading into the weekend.

A major flood warning has also been issued for the Orara River at Coutts Crossing near Grafton.

“Over the coming days, severe thunderstorms could produce large hail and damaging winds as well,” meteorologist Neil Fraser told NCA NewsWire.

East Lismore has already had flash flooding.

“We’ve had a fair bit of rain up at Lismore that has added to the flooding through there - since 9am this morning 180-odd millimetres had fallen.

“And there’s no let up really for the coming days until the weekend.”

âš¡SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGâš¡ for HEAVY, LOCALLY INTENSE RAINFALL. Warning current for much of central and eastern NSW and the ACT.
79mm recorded at Hillview in 1hr to 3:45pm.
⚠️Warnings: https://t.co/JMN9fxJ0fo
🌧️Rainfall Map: https://t.co/BFoLpO2vgz#ifitsfloodedforgetit pic.twitter.com/ScOp77Bdfe

— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 16, 2020

Other regions that copped a short and heavy downpour include Kunghur, where 83mm fell in two hours, and Hillview, where 46mm covered the area in just an hour.

⚠️Severe Weather Warning⚠️for HEAVY RAINFALL. For people in Northern Rivers Forecast District.
Highest rainfall totals from 9am to 5pm Wednesday:
217mm at Tuckurimba
199mm at Lismore
177mm Kunghur
143mm Tuncester
129mm Bodalla
103mm Goolmangar
⚠️Warnings: https://t.co/QdEjsofvRd pic.twitter.com/Uic43WJyTy

— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 16, 2020