Sydney is expected to be drenched with more than 100mm of rain in the coming days and the New South Wales east coast is under a flood watch as parts of the state recorded more than a month’s worth of rainfall in 12 hours.
The heavy rain kicked off on Wednesday night. The southern half of the Illawarra has been copping the worst of the downpour, where more than 180mm of rain was recorded in the 12 hours to midday on Thursday.
The soaking was equivalent to more than a month’s worth of rainfall in some areas, including Currarong, which was lashed with 100mm of rain in six hours, and Nowra, which received 87mm of rain in a three-hour period.
Nine people have been rescued from floodwaters, predominantly on the south coast, and the NSW SES has been called out to more than 150 incidents in a 24-hour period.
One driver became stuck in their car at Woollamia, about 20km from Nowra, but was rescued by the SES.
Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said further heavy rainfall was on the way and was forecast to shift north on Thursday afternoon into Wollongong and Sydney.
Between 15 and 25mm was recorded in Wollongong on Wednesday evening and 10mm in Sydney.
Hines said a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall had been expanded into all of the Illawarra district and to far southern suburbs of Sydney, as well as parts of the central and southern tablelands and the south coast.
“The low which is driving this rain onto the country is not moving anywhere quickly so we’ll continue to see a lot more rain around the Illawarra and Sydney, and some patchy showers all the way down to the South Coast into eastern Victoria,” he said.
Rain is starting to fall across Sydney and may intensify throughout the afternoon and evening. Severe thunderstorms are also possible in southern Sydney and may cause localised flash flooding. Prepare for wet conditions and monitor for updates at https://t.co/VZOJVOzbfi! ☔ pic.twitter.com/O5PnKuDeRN
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) June 6, 2024
Heavy rain may lead to flash flooding, with six-hourly rainfall totals of between 50mm and 90mm forecast for the affected areas. Totals for 24-hours of between 100mm and 150mm are also likely, including for southern parts of Sydney, with isolated falls of 250mm possible.
The most significant downpours were occurring around Nowra and Jervis Bay on Thursday, with moderate flooding occurring at the Upper Nepean River, Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean Rivers and the Colo River.
Hines said there were likely to be river rises and continued flooding. But he said while the rain was expected to continue into Saturday it should ease back, with just a number of isolated showers expected for eastern NSW.
“We will see a big shift on Friday, initially the low moves towards the coast but then it does a U-Turn and starts to move away from the country,” he said.
“It will begin to clear out on the second half of Friday into the evening, with the trend continuing on Saturday and brighter weather on the way.”
The communities likely to be affected included Wollongong, Nowra, Bowral, Ulladulla, Taralga and Nerriga.
The NSW SES state duty commander, Dallas Burnes, said flood rescue operators were “ready to respond” to the incoming floods and storms.
“We’re working closely with the bureau to identify areas that can expect the greatest impacts this evening and into tomorrow,” he said, adding that people should “never drive through flood waters”.
A flood watch was in place for metropolitan Sydney on Thursday as well as the Central Coast, Illawarra and south coast.
Minor to moderate flood warnings were in place for the Hastings, Hawkesbury, Nepean and Cooks rivers and for the St Georges Basin.
While the rainfall intensity was expected to ease on Friday and Saturday, Hines said any further rain would be falling on to saturated parts of the country, so “we wouldn’t rule out further flood impacts as we approach the weekend”.
