Welcome to our driest continent on Earth

Sydney has broken its record for highest annual rainfall with almost four months left in the year, with the BOM warning more rain and flooding are in store.

Commuters near Sydney’s Central Station battle wild, wet and windy weather on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

Sydney has had its wettest year on record, with a third day of steady rainfall taking the NSW capital past the previous record year, 1950.

The city’s annual rainfall hit 2211.4mm at 1.30pm (AEDT) on Thursday, passing the 1950 total of 2194mm with 86 days of the year left. In a year that has brought three floods crises to Sydney’s northwest, west and southwest, the city’s rainfall has been higher than average in eight of the 10 months so far.

The October rainfall in less than six days is already greater than the month’s average, with the annual average rainfall of 1211.3 exceeded on April 7.

Eleven days this year, including the 24-hour period ending at 9am on Friday, topped 50mm

After Thursday’s deluge, NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said there was little chance of relief in the near future.

“We’ve seen a lot of rain around Sydney today, but it’s only going to get worse, unfortunately,” she said. “Saturday is likely to be the danger day for Sydney and surrounding areas.

“Our catchments are saturated, the dams are full, our rivers are already swollen, so any extra rainfall, no matter how minor, is likely to exacerbate existing flooding circumstances.”

 

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Gabrielle Woodhouse said the rain would likely bring yet another flooding event to NSW. “We’ve already observed widespread rain and thunderstorms across inland areas of NSW over the past 24 to 36 hours, and we are expecting more rain and thunderstorms to come,” she said.

“We are looking at renewed, prolonged flooding across inland parts of NSW, and expecting that flood risk to move east during the weekend.”

Ms Cooke called on communities to rally together yet again as the potential for more devastating flooding looms.

The forecast rain this weekend coincides with what is expected to be a particularly busy time on the state’s roads, between the Bathurst 1000 race and the end of school holidays.