Heavy rainfall, destructive winds and damaging surf have continued to impact the Metropolitan, Mid North Coast, Hunter and Illawarra districts for the third day as severe weather batter the NSW.
Conditions are expected to slowly ease but police urg motorists to stay out of the floodwater as there could be significant surface damage to roads, not visible from the surface.
Summary
- The death toll rose to four late Wednesday as a woman's body found swept away in waters in Maitland
- NSW SES announced it has received 11,003 requests across the State. 109 Flood Rescues since Monday. Fire and Rescue NSW and the Rural Fire Service are supporting SES operations with a total of 636 members in the field.
- The Georges River has broken its banks. An evacuation order has been issued for 250 homes in southwest Sydney.
- NSW Hunter region to be declared a state of natural disaster: Premier Mike Baird.
- A flood evacuation order is in place for parts of Milperra
- Sydney has endured the biggest 48-hour rainfall since August 1998
- 200,000 homes and businesses are left without power.
- 91 schools have been closed across the region. The full list is available here
Importand updates
22 April 2015
20:50 Police divers have retrieved the body of a woman from a car which was swept into floodwaters in the Central Hunter. Police divers were able to confirm no one in the second vehicle, however, the body of an 86-year-old Gillieston Heights woman was retrieved from the first vehicle, NSW Police said.
17:50 Police are investigating a two-vehicle crash near Singleton this afternoon, in which two people lost their lives. Both drivers died.
15:58 As a result of the flood level predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology for Georges River at 4:00pm the NSW State Emergency Service is directing residents within the area of:
- Rickard Road
- Arthur Street
- Riverside Drive, between Arthur Street and Newbridge Rd
- Newbridge Road, between Rickard Rd and Governor Macquarie Dr
- Davey Robinson Drive
to evacuate immediately. 14:20 Police divers from Sydney will join the search for two people missing in car swept by floodwaters in Maitland.
12:45 SES update: “Our Operations Centre are experiencing extreme volume of calls to the 132 500 number. There are more jobs than phone lines. We can only imagine your frustration but we are prioritising life critical jobs before any storm damage jobs. To put it in perspective, we have received a total of 9895 jobs and 6496 jobs are not yet complete.”
11:51 The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said as of 7am there have been more than 19,500 insurance claims, with losses estimated at $129 million.
11:50 Mike Baird has declared a natural disaster. “This will be declared a natural disaster and areas such as Dungog and Maitland, parts of the Central Coast, they will be included in that” . “The state of emergency really gives you additional powers in terms of asking people to be removed from particular areas (and provides) powers for our emergency workers to move and act very quickly in response to very severe situations.”
11:00 NSW premier Mike Baird to declare natural disaster. Declaration means local government, families and businesses can access grants
11:30 Reports are coming in of of two people missing in Maitland after a car was swept from the road.
10:14 Reports are coming Sydney airport is closed, but airport tweet says otherwise.
Sydney Airport is not closed. We have additional resources in place to minimise disruption. Please check with you airline for flight info.
— Sydney Airport (@SydneyAirport) April 22, 2015
10:00 The Bureau of Meteorology said the severe weather warning for the Hunter district has been cancelled.
9:30 Firefighters have rescued two from a car in Cessnock Road in Maitland.
9:00 The NSW Labor Opposition calls upon Premier Mike Bairdto declare a state of emergency in this region.
8:14 Residents received a test messages about possible evacuation as Manly Dam has been spilling overnight.
8:05 Premier says “large number” of schools will be closed today. Check a href==”//: dec.nsw.gov.au” target=”_blank”> dec.nsw.gov.au
8:03 SES update Flood Rescues
- Maitland City Unit– Persons – 2 adults, 2 children – isolated by flood water - Woodville
- Lake Macquarie City Unit – Persons – 2 persons trapped in floodwater – Swansea
- Maitland City Unit – Animals – Boarding Kennel – Animals in deep water – require relocation – Millers Forest
- Maitland City Unit – Animals – Cattle on flood bank rapidly rising water – Require access to cut wire - Maitland
- Maitland City Unit – Persons – 2 persons stranded on a levee bank – Largs
- Maitland City Unit – Animals – Gain Access to horses stuck in flood water – Millers Forest
- Cooranbong Unit – Persons – require evacuation – Blackalls Park
- Wyong Unit – Persons – require evacuation – medical transport – Wyong Creek
The worst affected Regions are:
- Sydney Northern Region 2850
- Hunter Region 2733
- Sydney Southern Region 1224
The worst affected localities are: •
-
•
- Wyong 819
- Lake Macquarie City 777
- City of Newcastle 722
- Gosford 644
- Warringah - Pittwater 526
- Maitland City 448
- Sutherland 329
•
8:02 Premier Mike Baird tweeted, urging commuters to avoid peak-hours.
To ease strain on transport/road networks please again try to travel to work outside standard peak times – I urge employers to be flexible.
— Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) April 21, 2015
8:00 NSW SES announced it received 7,984 jobs and has conducted 90 flood rescues. A Severe Weather Warning remains in place for an intense low pressure system situated over the Hunter location. The low is showing an overall easing trend, moving gradually southwards along the coast and is expected to weaken and moves east later this afternoon.
21 April 2015
16:00 Police have advised Dungog residents to evacuate.One woman and two men died in the town, the worst hit in the state by the storm.
15:00 NSW SES posted a tweet advising Newcastle residents to “expect rapid rises and flash flooding in the next few hours”.
Flood advice for residents in Newcastle. Expect rapid rises and flash flooding in the next few hours. Do not enter floodwater. Telephone 000
— NSW SES (@NSWSES) April 21, 2015
SES says it completed 47 flood rescues since Monday.
14:30 NSW Premier Mike Baird has called on workers from the Illawarra through to the Hunter to start heading home earlier while it is still daylight before the storm conditions get worse. “If I can ask for bosses to be flexible, for people to make arrangements in an orderly way to start to head home as soon as you possibly can”. According to him, there have been more than 4500 calls for assistance and up to 1000 calls to triple-zero. “People need to be patient while we focus very clearly on the critical services in health and aged care,” the premier said.
13:40 Premier Mike Baird says “the weather could get more severe” for the region between now and midnight at a press conference.
13:00 Dungog Chronicle is reporting three elderly people are dead
12:00 Video from Dungog, north of Newcastle show a home washed away by floodwaters.
11:36 The University of Newcastle has closed for the day because of the severe storms
11:17 20 people, including an elderly couple have been rescued from floodwaters in Stroud, north of Newcastle; 10 were airlifted from rooftops.
11:08 A “very dangerous line of thunderstorms” extends from about Nelsons Bay to Cessnock, according to the latest warning issued by Bureau of Meteorology
10:10 NSW SES says received 3,136 requests in 24 hours.
9:16 Ausgrid says 180,000 homes without electricity in the Sydney, Central Coast and the Hunter region.
9:11 There are reports that a school bus trapped in floodwater in Stroud. Two people are also missing in the area after swept by floodwaters overnight.
9:06 The Bureau of Meteorology says more than 300mm of rain has fallen in some areas in the past 24 hours. Destructive winds averaging up to 100km/h with peak gusts of 135km/h are forecast for parts of the Hunter, and Sydney could have winds of up to 70km/h. Last night Sydney airport recorded gusts of 100km/h.
8:29 Damaging winds and heavy rain continues and people are urged to stay home.
