Flood waters and river levels dropped in areas west and north of Sydney on Saturday as sunshine broke over clean-up efforts at thousands of homes and businesses.
The New South Wales government named two coordinators to oversee recovery efforts and said inspections of 2,285 premises so far had found 239 were not liveable.
Traffic started flowing on the Windsor Bridge over the Hawkesbury River. Just days ago the bridge was submerged when the river peaked above the March flood level of 13.8 metres.
Minor flooding was easing at Sackville, Windsor and North Richmond along the Hawkesbury and the Colo River.
Windsor Bridge is open again. #nswfloods pic.twitter.com/VSJfEOfqqA
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) July 9, 2022
Emergency personnel from Victoria travelled to NSW on Saturday to help with rescue and clean-up efforts.
The Bureau of Meteorology said rain would return to Sydney and Newcastle on Sunday with up to 20mm forecast, but the rest of the week would see showers with just a few millimetres likely each day.
The meteorologist Jonathan How told the Guardian showers would push up into the Sydney area by late morning on Sunday, arriving in the Hunter around lunchtime or early afternoon.
He said: “Thankfully there’s nothing that will cause further flooding. But because the soils are so wet, even a small amount of rainfall still leads to some water over roads.”
By Sunday evening the showers should have cleared the Illawarra and Sydney.
Some showers would return with a cold front on Tuesday that could also bring snow to the state’s central and southern tablelands, “but we’re not expecting any more big rainfall totals”.
The clear skies could also bring cool days and cold mornings for inland areas with widespread frosts.
The cloud band that had helped deliver flooding rains in the last week had now moved away off the coast, but a large low pressure system was still sitting off New Zealand’s South Island that was pushing southerly winds to Australia’s south-east.
A warning for hazardous surf was issued for Sunday off the coast of Byron, Coffs, Macquarie, Hunter, Sydney, Illawarra, Batemans and Eden.
⚠️Severe Weather Warning for damaging #surf issued for Sunday along central & southern #NSW coast. Waves heights in excess of 5 metres possible; south & south-east facing beaches most impacted. Hazardous surf current along parts coast today.
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) July 8, 2022
Warning: https://t.co/Ss766eSCrL pic.twitter.com/MKY5Xr4Cyq
The NSW emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, said on Saturday that former detective Dean Betts would oversee clean-up and rebuilding efforts in greater Sydney.
The Resilience NSW director, Mel Gore, would take the same role for the state’s Central Coast, Hunter Valley and mid-north coast.
“These appointments will help to ensure flood-affected communities receive support in a timely and efficient way,” Cooke said.
Almost 1,000 properties of the 2,285 premises so far examined by the state government were in need of repair.
Cooke said immediate priorities were damage assessments of flooded homes and businesses, and making sure displaced residents could access emergency accommodation.
Government recovery centres across greater Sydney, the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley and Central Coast would open in the coming days.
Some 37 local government areas across NSW were under natural disaster declarations.
Several roads reopened on Saturday in the Hawkesbury but flooding was still affecting some roads in greater Sydney, with closures at Heathcote Road, Pitt Town Road and the Yarramundi Bridge.
