Residents in Sydney and surrounds have begun to feel the effects of a severe weather front as it moves down the east coast.
An evacuation warning was issued for parts of western Sydney, with heavy downpours affecting much of the city.
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.
On NSW’s north coast, ongoing extensive flooding claimed a third 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. NSW Deputy Premier Paul 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.”
Evacuation orders and severe weather warnings remained in place for large parts of the 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 BOM said.
Sydney’s main water source, the Warragamba Dam, began spilling over at 3am ahead of what was expected.
With the extreme and unforeseen levels of flooding further north, Mr Toole said there could be similar record water levels in the south.
“We’re talking about floodwaters at 14.4m. That’s 2m greater than what we’d previously seen,” he said.
“So there are properties that have been impacted this time round that weren‘t impxjmtzywacted previously.
