Rain, blackouts, flooding as wild weather smashes NSW, Victoria
Victoria is being urged to brace for more flooding, while wild weather in Sydney left 30,000 homes and businesses without power.
Victorians are being urged to brace for more flooding today with wild weather is expected to continue.
A flash flood warning is in place for Wangaratta, Byawatha and surrounding areas including the Hume Freeway on Friday and authorities are bracing for continued high water levels on Friday.
A month’s worth of rain fell in parts of Victoria yesterday with rainfall records for December broken.
Twenty homes flooded in the Birchip area in central Victoria overnight and 10 people were evacuated. A community meeting will be held later today, the SES said.
“It’s like an ocean here where we are at the moment, our whole street is under water,” one resident told 3AW on Friday.
A severe weather warning for heavy rain and flash flooding is most likely to occur about the northeast ranges, the Otways, in south Gippsland and over far east Gippsland, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Friday.
Rain areas and isolated thunderstorms are expected across the warning area, with periods of heavy rain that may cause flash flooding.
Affected areas may include Bright, Yarram, Mallacoota, Falls Creek, Mt Hotham and Mt Buller.
People are reminded not to drive through floodwater, after 120 people needed rescuing from the Hume Freeway south of Wangaratta, including 17 by helicopter.
Up to 500 vehicles were impacted by floodwaters on the Hume Freeway. Significant traffic diversions are in place, with large parts of the Hume Freeway are closed and drivers urged to plan ahead for longer trips.
is this Cyclone Owen's official entrance into Sydney? #SydneyStorm pic.twitter.com/7QfvfGrSPp
— Matt Swan (@_mattswan) December 13, 2018
Sydney lashed by storm
Meanwhile, power has been restored to thousands of homes in Sydney after severe thunderstorms created havoc in NSW overnight.
Emergency crews worked through the night to restore power to more than 40,000 homes affected by the wild weather, with about 750 remaining without power on Friday morning, Endeavour Energy said in a statement.
The storm front moved across parts of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong early on Thursday evening, bringing with it strong gusts and heavy rain. During the storms, more than 40mm of rain fell in 30 minutes in Auburn in Sydney’s west.
Wind gusts of up to 107km/h were recorded at Coonamble in the central-western plains while winds reached 105km/h in Narrabri in the state’s north-west slopes, the bureau said.
The storms which lashed parts of Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong earlier in the evening had eased by about 9.15pm prompting the cancellation of a severe thunderstorm warning.
During the storms more than 40mm of rain fell in 30 minutes in Auburn in Sydney’s west.
INCOMING! ⛈ #SydneyStorm @GoProANZ pic.twitter.com/vbpXrRwwZ1
— Tj 📷👨ðŸ½â€ðŸ’» (@Tj__Edwards) December 13, 2018
Two of the city’s major roads were impacted by flooding, with lanes closed on both Parramatta Road in Homebush and the Princes Highway at Blakehurst.
The NSW SES received a total of 675 calls for help in the Wagga Wagga, Albury, Orange and Wollondilly areas.
They also had to rescue seven people from flooded cars in Albury and Sydney. The wild weather is set to continue for parts of the state on Friday, with further severe thunderstorms likely.
A severe weather warning is in place for the South Coast and around the Snowy Mountains, as well as several flood watches in areas including Bega and Towamba.
Our poor local Chinese restaurant Narellan Court copped a hammering from the storm. Can't be good for business 😔... #blackout #sydneyweather #sydneystorm pic.twitter.com/3M3i3y7QqQ
— Peter Elder (@pelder90) December 13, 2018
The garage of one home in Guildford in Western Sydney was set alight by lightning striking a nearby power pole. NSW Police were called to the home just before 8pm on Thursday where fire crews were successful in extinguishing the blaze around 30 minutes later, according to witnesses. There were no reports of injuries.
— With Alana Calvert and AAP
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