Rivers in New South Wales are overflowing and emergency services have had to perform six flood rescues in 24 hours as another battering of heavy rain and thunderstorms descends on the east coast.
The third low-pressure system was forecast to persist until Sunday morning, bringing flash flooding, landslides and damaging winds strong enough to bring down powerlines and trees.
There were 63 active flood warnings across the saturated state on Saturday afternoon, and inland catchments were experiencing major flooding.
At Euabalong, the Lachlan River was expected to exceed seven metres over the weekend after weeks of prolonged flooding along its lower reaches, while major flooding was occurring on the Macquarie.
Major flood levels were also expected on the Gwydir River, Namoi River, Belubula River, Mandagery Creek, Bogan River, Wollombi Brook, Lower Hunter River and Colo River.
The emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, said the main areas of concern for the state emergency service (SES) were Wagga Wagga, Forbes, Warren, Gunnedah and Bathurst – where thousands of race goers braved muddy, wet conditions to attend the first day of the 2022 Bathurst 1000.
“We are only eight days into the storm season, and, unfortunately, we are seeing flooding continuing across New South Wales,” Cooke said.
“It is expected to do so for weeks and in fact months ahead … We are expecting to see another trough move through from Wednesday, which will impact already flooded communities … right across the west of New South Wales.”
The SES received more than 330 calls for assistance in 24 hours and performed six flood rescues, bolstered by four defence force helicopters provided by the federal government to supplement 500 personnel in the field.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding said the rain band was starting to “fill in” across the state.
A severe weather warning was active for Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, Wollongong, Nowra and Katoomba across the central tablelands, Hunter and metropolitan regions for damaging winds and heavy rainfall.
“We expect … rain rates to increase through the course of this afternoon and overnight … from Bathurst up to the Queensland border, and along the central New South Wales coast,” Golding said on Saturday.
“The good news is that this system is moving through very quickly and we should have a couple of days of reprieve after it before the next system starts to encroach on the west of the state.”
Six-hour totals of up to 70mm were expected, while damaging winds with peak gusts in excess of 90km/h were predicted along the coast. Flash flooding was already occurring in the state’s west.
The assistant commissioner of the NSW SES, Dean Storey, told ABC News “many more” flooding events were expected in coming months and a wet forecast lay ahead.
“There is definitely a flood fatigue situation across many, many parts of the state … in particular in the west and the south … who have been experiencing major flooding now for what feels like the best part of a year,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the bureau’s forecasting an above-average rainfall storm and flood season, so we’re probably going to see many more events like this over the coming months.
“[With] that heavy rain coming on top of saturated soils and catchments and dams that are already full and overflowing [we] can really see that flooding risk escalate really, really quickly.”
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, urged residents to follow SES advice and avoid driving through flood waters.
“Don’t put your life at risk,” he said.
“We do have rivers, we do have dams that are completely at capacity, so it doesn’t necessarily take heavy rainfall to create flash flooding across our state.”
In Queensland, the heaviest rainfall was expected in the Maranoa and Warrego, Darling Downs and central west districts in the state’s south-east.
There were seven catchments issued with flood warnings including the lower Macintyre and Weir rivers in the border rivers, the Bokhara River in the lower Balonne River system, and the Paroo, Bulloo, and Barcoo rivers and Cooper Creek.
Farther south, Victorian residents were on alert after a major downpour on Friday that dumped a month’s worth of rain on parts of the state in an hour.
There were 13 flood warnings across the state including the Barwon River, with minor flooding possible in Geelong from the evening. The Loddon River and weir to Kerang was deemed a no-go zone due to flood hazards, and Grapevine Gathering – a music festival in the Yarra Valley – was cancelled.
More than 20 requests for assistance had been attended to by SES in Victoria in 24 hours, including seven at Woodend and six in Maryborough, north-west of Melbourne.
