Flood warnings in tropical north, storms to pound parts of Queensland, NSW

Sydneysiders were stuck in traffic for hours on Wednesday after the city was pelted with rain overnight, with showers expected to continue until Sunday.

Heavy rain has pelted Sydney, causing flash flooding, a major freeway to close to citybound traffic and morning peak hour headaches.

Sydney’s eastern suburbs were drenched overnight, with 40mm recorded at Sydney Airport, 30mm in the city, 38mm around Manly and the northern beaches and 41mm at Bondi.

“Most of that fell in just a couple of hours this morning,” Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Dean Narramore said.

“It’s obviously led to some wet roads and localised flash flooding.”

Commuters sat in traffic at Kyeemagh for hours after the Cooks River Tunnel flooded, leading to the temporary closure of all citybound lanes of the M5 East.

All citybound lanes have since reopened, but one of two westbound lanes remained closed just before 10.30am.

Firefighters also managed to rescue a kitten that become stuck down a stormwater drain in Strathfield in Sydney’s inner west just before 8am.

Students on their way to school noticed it being swept down the drain and raised the alarm, with crews using a ladder to pluck it safely from the drain.

A kitten was rescued from a stormwater drain in Strathfield, Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Fire and Rescue NSW

It comes as a wet weekend is ahead for multiple Australian states, with Australia’s tropical north flooded and the south of the country chillier than usual.

Severe thunderstorms and rain are also on the way for many parts of southeast Queensland and northeast NSW on Wednesday.

“We saw severe thunderstorms last night through southeastern Queensland where we saw falls up to 50mm south of Brisbane,” meteorologist Mr Narramore said.

“We also had a bit of a sound and light show, damaging winds and also large hail was reported around the Killarney, Queens Mary Falls area, near the south of Warwick.”

Major and moderate flood warnings are in place for parts of the Northern Territory and Queensland on Wednesday.

The Waterhouse River, south of Katherine in the top end, has a major flood warning in place, and river levels are likely to peak over eight metres on Wednesday afternoon.

A major flood warning is also current for the Herbert River in far north Queensland, while there are numerous other minor flood warnings across the state.

Meanwhile, southeastern Australia is experiencing cool below average temperatures, with Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia four to eight degrees below average for this time of year, Mr Narramore said.

Melbourne has a forecast top of 20C on Wednesday, Hobart 22C and Adelaide 23C.

Western Australia is continuing to bring the heat, although it is not as hot as it has been the last few days, Mr Narramore said.

Perth is expected to reach a top of 32C.