The New South Wales premier has warned there could be more rain coming for the parts of the state already damaged by severe storms which killed four people.
Mike Baird has been briefed that there could be more danger from the rain after hopes the storms had cleared for good. He said any rain could add to the damage done, and described being shocked by the flooding in the Hunter.
“You can’t really appreciate the size and the scope of the devastation until you see it first-hand and it is nothing short of devastating, what we’ve seen,” he told media at the Hunter SES region headquarters in Metford.
“Homes, cattle, this whole landscape has been completely and utterly devastated, floodwaters everywhere, and a long time until we get back or get this community back on its feet.”
Baird said the recovery would be difficult as emergency workers tried to repair and clean up enough before the arrival of another front, forecast to sweep through Sydney, Newcastle and the Hunter region by Saturday.
Today I am seeing first hand the destruction that came, without warning, to some of our towns in NSW. pic.twitter.com/vT4UIBpCGz
— Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) April 23, 2015
The NSW state emergency service (SES) has responded to more than 14,000 requests for assistance since Sunday morning, with 5,000 in the Hunter alone. Commissioner Andrew Dent said in the entire storm season between September and March, there had been 19,000 call outs.
“In just a few days our members across the state have repeated almost the entire workload of the several months prior so it is a very, very difficult period,” he said.
“While the weather has abated for now and the water is starting to recede in some places, there is still considerable water lying around and I can’t stress highly enough the need to not enter that floodwater.”
Dent said the front coming through from the south was “dynamic” and had not been expected until Thursday.
Dent said it was important people did not go “sightseeing” to check out the damage now the rain had cleared. He said SES officers from other regions in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT were helping with the storm damage, and there had been offers from South Australia.
The estimated insurance bill is now $160m, and Baird said there was no doubt it would go into the hundreds of millions.
More than 400mm of rain fell within 48 hours in some parts of the Hunter, Newcastle and Sydney. Floodwaters were expected to peak on Thursday afternoon.
In the Hunter, 2,000 people were isolated by flood waters, and provisions such as food and medication were being ferried to elderly people in Gilliston Heights on Thursday in an emergency operation.
There have been four confirmed deaths from the floods, and potentially one person still missing. Three elderly people died when floodwaters swept through their homes in Dungog on Tuesday. The body of an 86-year-old woman was recovered from floodwaters in Maitland on Wednesday evening after the car she was driving was swept off the road. It has not been established whether the woman had a passenger.
Natural disaster zones have been declared in Dungog, Cessnock, Gosford, Great Lakes, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Newcastle, Pittwater, Port Stephens, Singleton, Warringah and Wyong.
NSW SES deputy commissioner Steven Pearce said emergency crews faced a difficult task in the Hunter, with “dozens and dozens” of homes isolated.
“Just because we see some sunshine, [it] doesn’t mean the danger has abated,” he told the Seven Network.
In western Sydney, an evacuation order issued for about 250 homes in Milperra, near the Georges river, was lifted as the waters began to subside. On Thursday morning there was still limited access on some roads around Milperra.
About 160,000 homes and business remained without power, down from a peak of 220,000 but some houses were not likely to be reconnected until the weekend.
In Stroud, Robyn and Graeme Arkinstall have had to decide to demolish their home after it was almost destroyed by floods on Tuesday. The couple foster three children and survived the flash flood by getting on the roof.
“Dad couldn’t get up, he climbed onto a spa hut, which was chained to the house, and eventually got onto the roof,” their son Ben Arkinstall, told reporters. “This place will have to be demolished.”
Walls have been ripped open, a piano was swept away and cars twisted into each other at the residence which had also been replete with antique furniture.
