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Thousands return home as weather eases, but warnings issued after man’s death
By Laura Chung
Thousands of residents have been allowed to return to their homes as weather conditions ease, but authorities have urged people not to be complacent around water following the death of a man in Sydney’s north-west.
Six evacuation orders were lifted on Wednesday, and 3000 people were able to return to their homes, but about 20,000 people remain evacuated.
While the heavy rain has eased, clean-up efforts have only just started.Credit: Janie Barrett
“The number of people on evacuation watch hasn’t changed, so there are literally tens of thousands of people on alerts. However, we are hoping that by the end of the day that number will reduce as well,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Thursday.
Evacuation orders were issued on Wednesday night for the low-lying areas of Brushgrove and Cowper areas along the Clarence River.
Once floodwater passes 3.9 metres on the Brushgrove gauge, Brushgrove and Cowper roads will begin to close. Nearby, major flooding continues along the Clarence River at Grafton, which peaked at 6.56 metres on Wednesday evening.
Ms Berejiklian urged people to stay out of floodwaters, as NSW recorded the first flood-related fatality on Wednesday.
“Just because you may have heard your local river has peaked or that the worst of the rising waters may have ceased, the currents underneath the surface are very strong, the flows are doing things they don’t normally do, so please stay out of those floodwaters,” she said.
Ayaz Younus, from Pakistan, called triple zero at 6.20am on Wednesday to say his “car was sinking”. He stayed on the phone for 44 minutes until “contact was lost”, police said. His body was later found by police divers in the submerged car.
Detective Inspector Chris Laird said Mr Younus had been driving a new hire car north on Cattai Ridge Road, near Hidden Valley Lane, on Wednesday. He was on his first day as a contractor for a large commercial organisation.
“We can only speculate why he couldn’t get out of the car,” Inspector Laird said. “Initial examinations show that he made all reasonable attempts, and that’ll form part of our inquiries as to why he couldn’t exit the car.”
A man’s body was found inside a car in floodwaters on Cattai Ridge Road in Glenorie in Sydney’s north-west yesterday.Credit: Nine News
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said Mr Younus’ death was the result of a dreadful set of circumstances and every effort was being made to contact his family overseas.
He said a police investigation was under way and a report would be prepared for the coroner, which would examine factors including emergency response time.
Mr Worboys added he had been told road barriers were up in the area, some of which were underwater at the time of the incident.
“This is a graphic and tragic reminder of the dangers across our roads as this crisis unfolds,” he said.
For many communities, the clean-up from the flood will take months.Credit: Nick Moir
NSW State Emergency Service Commissioner Carlene York said the easing weather conditions had resulted in six evacuation orders being lifted for several areas, including the Kempsey area.
“Good weather again today will allow us to resupply a number of areas, particularly on the Hawkesbury River,” she said. “I went out yesterday. There are many supplies being loaded on to helicopters and our boats to go out to those communities, and restocking some of those supermarkets, which is good news.”
On Thursday, a huge flood recovery operation will commence on the NSW Mid North Coast after the formation of a clean-up strike force comprising the Australian Defence Force, the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW.
The strike force, led by Deputy Premier and Disaster Recovery Minister John Barilaro, will start work in flood-affected areas pending receding waters and a green light from the NSW State Emergency Service.
Its first priority will be ensuring roads are accessible, making places safe for people to return to, assisting with the clean-up and removing bulk waste to provide initial relief.
Mr Barilaro will travel to the Mid North Coast on Friday to start assessing the damage and the scale of the clean-up.
Firefighters, including from the Illawarra, northern beaches and Hornsby areas, and equipment were deployed to a Port Macquarie indoor sports centre, which will act as a base camp, on Wednesday.
The teams will be sent to the Mid North Coast region, including Kempsey and Taree, over the coming days as the water levels subside.
Flooding at Windsor on Tuesday.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Meanwhile, volunteers with Sikh Australia have driven food vans from Melbourne to flood-affected areas along the Mid North Coast, including Taree, Oxley Island and Manning Point.
On Wednesday, they visited three locations, serving about 500 meals. On Thursday, they plan to visit four locations and deliver many more meals.
“There are plenty of people, especially the farmers, that are really in need,” volunteer co-ordinator Manpreet Singh said. “They were very happy with a hot meal.”
The team of seven volunteers are serving vegetarian meals of pasta, rice, curries and salads.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding said on Thursday the weather systems that had brought the rain had moved into the Pacific Ocean and was tracking eastwards.
“For most of NSW, we are looking at fairly benign conditions until the end of the weekend,” she said. “We are still asking residents of north-eastern NSW to keep an eye on the warnings as they are issued from the bureau.”
Bureau forecaster Victoria Dodds added that several locations had recorded a flood peak overnight, but this did not mean the flood risk had disappeared.
“Over the last week, we have seen some of the most difficult floods across NSW in decades. We have seen exceptionally high flood levels, high velocity flows, lots of dangerous debris in these floodwaters.”