A severe weather front wreaking havoc along the east coast hit Sydney and surrounds on Wednesday night, with evacuation orders issued for parts of the city’s west due to rapidly rising water levels.
Thousands of residents along the Hawkesbury River were told to “leave now” if they were affected by the devastating floods in March 2021.
“This is our worst fear. We are seeing the situation get worse. And it will get worse before it gets better,” Deputy Premier Paul Toole told media on Monday evening.
“We do not want to see those situations where people are on the roofs of their houses waiting to be rescued. We do not want to see those situations that we have seen in the north of the state.
“This is going to be a tough night for residents in that area. This is going to be a tough night for people here in NSW.”
Rain was expected to continue on Wednesday and into Thursday morning, with major flood warnings already in place for the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers.
Residents in North Richmond were told the nearby Redbank Dam would likely fail and they should get out now.
There were also warnings for Milperra, Chipping Norton and Lansvale in Sydney’s south-west that rising waters in the Georges River could leave them “isolated”.
“You may be trapped without power, water and other essential services and it may be too dangerous to rescue you,” an SES flood warning read.
The river is expected to reach moderate flood levels at Milperra and Liverpool by Thursday morning.
On NSW’s north coast, ongoing extensive flooding claimed a fourth life in Lismore with the body of a man retrieved from the city’s main street.
The bodies of two women in their 80s were also recovered on Tuesday. Deputy Premier Toole said there may be more tragedy to come.
“We know in realistic terms we may see more loss of life over the coming days,” Mr Toole said.
“This is a catastrophic event.”
Acts of heroism were also emerging, including a police officer who dived through an open window to rescue a 93-year-old woman floating on a mattress.
When the officer pulled her out the water level was just 20cm from the ceiling.
More rain was predicted to hit Lismore overnight, with slow moving thunderstorms bringing heavy rain, large hail and damaging winds.
Amid the disaster, a horror image emerged of a home in Lismore that had caught fire despite also being surrounded by floodwaters.
A young woman was rescued from the submerged property by boat, shortly before taking a picture of the surprising incident.
As she turned for a look, she saw the roof being consumed by flames, despite water reaching almost up to the eaves.
Evacuation orders and severe weather warnings remained in place for large parts of the north coast, including Ballina, with the hospital evacuated overnight due to rising flood waters.
Intense rainfall was also expected to batter the coast from Newcastle to south of Wollongong.
“We could see six-hourly rainfalls approach or exceed 200mm. That’s likely to lead to flash flooding,” Jackson Browne from the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Despite just starting to recover from extreme floods over the weekend, southeast Queensland was warned of more thunderstorms on the way.
Intense rainfall, large to giant hail and damaging wind gusts were all predicted, with flash flooding and renewed river rises possible.
