Hundreds of New South Wales residents have made calls for help as heavy rainfall lashes the state, leaving huge swathes at risk of flooding, as Sydney experienced its wettest day of the year to date.
Bodies have been found in the search for two men missing after a car entered a river 20km north of Wisemans Ferry, on Sydney’s northern outskirts, on Wednesday night. NSW police said earlier heavy rainfall was affecting the multi-agency effort.
Sydney Observatory Hill recorded 82mm in the 24 hours up to Thursday morning, more than the entire monthly average rainfall for August in a day, according to Weatherzone.
The weather forecast service also said it was the city’s wettest day of the year – and wettest August day since 2007.
The Bureau of Meteorology said it has already been Sydney’s wettest August since 1998, with 345.2 mm recorded as of 9am on Thursday morning. (The monthly total in 1998 was 482.6mm.)
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) had more than 30 warnings, including several “watch and act” alerts, in place for areas stretching from Sydney’s south up to the Central Coast, north coast, New England region and state’s north-west.
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The deputy commissioner of the NSW SES, Debbie Platz, said in an update on Thursday afternoon that the system was affecting “most of the east coast of NSW and into the north-west area of the state”.
“We are starting now to see road closures across many parts of NSW, and these road closures are going to cause isolation to many communities,” she said. Flooding or adverse weather has caused hundreds of road incidents, according to the NSW government’s Live Traffic website.
The SES has responded to more than 760 callouts since Monday, with more than 400 over the past 24 hours – including six flood rescues – the agency said on Thursday afternoon. A man was rescued at Douglas Park, south-west of Sydney, at about 6.30am in a multi-agency effort, the NSW Rural Fire Service said in a social media post.
Platz said the man had been driving his van through flood waters when water reached the headlights of his vehicle.
The bureau’s Angus Hines said Thursday would be “the last day” of significant rain across eastern parts of NSW but the effects of the flood could linger through Friday and into the weekend.
Hines said the weather system which has brought rainfall was tracking eastwards towards the coast, and would move out over the sea in the early hours of Friday morning.
A major flood warning is still in place for the Namoi River, while a moderate warning is in place for the Peel River, and minor warnings are in place for the Nepean and Barwon rivers. Hines said these rivers may not peak until the weekend, with Sydney, the Hunter and the Illawarra risking minor to moderate flooding in the next few days.
“Sometimes it just takes 12 to 24 to 36 hours for the wet weather to roll downhill and get into the river network.”
Police were called to the Macdonald River at St Albans about 11.50pm on Wednesday, where they found a car had crashed into the water.
One passenger, a 24-year-old, managed to exit the vehicle and reach the riverbank, but two men were unaccounted for.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, NSW police said divers had located a vehicle about 11.20am.
“A further search resulted in police divers locating two bodies in the water,” the statement said. The bodies are yet to be formally identified.
Hawkesbury police Insp Claudette Gebrael said police believed the trio were a father and two sons.
“[The car] may have hit a tree to start with and then entered the water,” she said.
The increased flood risk follows several major rainfall events this year, including floods in May, which devastated the mid-north coast and Hunter Valley, claiming the lives of five people. On Thursday, the NSW and federal governments announced a $50m housing support package for people affected by the May floods.
with AAP
