New South Wales – Flood Rescues and Evacuations after 212 mm of Rain in 24 Hours

A severe storm brought heavy rain and strong winds to parts of New South Wales, including Sydney, from the afternoon of 24 August 2015 and through to the early hours of 25 August. There were also reports of a tornado in the Dubbo area yesterday afternoon which left dozens of homes without power.

New South Wales State Emergency Service (SES) say that the locations most impacted from the storms included both western, southern Sydney suburbs as well as the Illawarra and South Coast. By Tuesday, SES had carried out over 50 flood rescues and received over 1,000 emergency calls.

As the day went on, the severe weather affected other areas of southern and coastal New South Wales, in particular Holroyd, Nowra, Wollongong and St Georges Basin.

SES report that “an east coast low is located off the Illawarra Coast, while a strong high in the Bight pushes a ridge to the Tasman Sea. The combination of these two systems is driving heavy rain, gale force winds and dangerous surf onto parts of the southern half of the NSW Coast today (25 August 2015)”.

Evacuations

A dam failure at Jarrara prompted SES to issue an emergency alert to 10 properties, 8 of which were evacuated, with 2 opting to stay. The Evacuation Order will remain in place for 48 hours after rainfall stops. SES has also issued an evacuation warning for residents in the St George Basin and Sussex Inlet areas.

Flooded areas around Jarrara dam, New South Wales, August 2015. Photo: NSW SES — Flooded areas of New South Wales, August 2015. Photo: NSW SES

Flood Watch and Warnings

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a Flood Watch for Illawarra and New South Wales south coast earlier today. BOM said:

“A small low pressure system has developed off the northern Illawarra coast and is currently deepening. This will bring further rain and some local flash flooding to the Illawarra district, mainly south of Wollongong, as well as the south coast. The system is expected to weaken during Wednesday”.

Flood Warnings have been issued by BOM for the Belubula River and the St Georges Basin.

All weather warnings for New South Wales can be found here.