Australia’s east is bracing for a fresh weather emergency with communities warned to prepare for a deluge of rain while they continue to recover from the flooding disaster.
Residents of low-lying parts of Lismore and Mullumbimby in northern NSW were given hours to evacuate their homes on Monday night, with SES and Australian Defence Force troops door-knocking residents.
The SES told residents to be out of their homes by 10pm, with people rushing to secure their belongings before going to an evacuation centre at Southern Cross University.
Rain is continuing to wreak havoc in the area with “life-threatening” flooding hitting the region for the second time in a month.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning major flooding could hit Chindera, Bandora, Bilambil Heights, Kingscliff and the Richmond, Wilsons, Orara and Bellinger rivers.
Moderate to major flooding is expected to occur along Lismore’s Wilsons River with levels expected to exceed the minor flood level of 4.2m on Tuesday afternoon.
Lismore mayor Steve Krieg said his weary community was bracing for more wild weather.
“We’re very much in the hands of the gods today,” he told Nine’s Today.
“If the expected rainfall comes in today the river could rise quite dramatically.”
Mr Krieg hopes the rain will stay off towards the coast but says residents are feeling fatigued.
“When you start to rebuild and then to get the news we could have another major flood, it just really drains you emotionally and mentally,” he said.
BOM meteorologist Ben Dominsello said the rain was expected to get worse in the next 24 to 36 hours, with at least 300mm expected to fall.
“A coastal trough is expected to deepen over northeastern NSW causing heavy rainfall with embedded thunderstorms,” the bureau said.
“Six-hourly rainfall totals between 80 to 140mm are possible, reaching up to 200mm over coastal areas and ranges.“
Storms and heavy rain are also affecting communities closer to Sydney, with trees falling on home and across roads in Windsor in the city’s northwest.
A separate flood warning has been issued for parts of the Hunter, Hawkesbury Nepean and North Western NSW Rivers.
“Minor to moderate flooding possible for other coastal catchments between the Tweed and Hawkesbury Nepean Valley,” BOM said.
Warragamba Dam is expected to spill again on Tuesday, with BOM saying it is “actively monitoring” and updating flood watches and warnings.
Floods are again threatening southeast Queensland with Burleigh Waters copping a drenching of 296mm of rain on Monday after a severe thunderstorm pounded the Gold Coast.
The community of Dalby, west of Brisbane, was inundated overnight with flash flooding hitting the town overnight from the Myall Creek and Condamine River.
BOM has warned the flooding could peak early on Tuesday at 3.65m – close to the 2011 flood heights.
While the rain is not expected to cause the same levels of flooding seen four weeks ago, the already-wet catchments meant flooding was still expected in the state’s southeast.
A man and five dogs died before 5am on Monday after a ute and trailer belonging to a pet-moving business was found submerged in floodwaters near Kingsthorpe.
The female driver of the ute was rescued and saved, but the man died.
An extensive search and rescue mission is also underway for a man who was swept away in flood waters near North Branch in the Southern Downs.
The state has lost 14 lives to the flood disaster in the past six weeks.
Disaster Management Coordination superintendent John Bosnjak told reporters “some people just don’t seem to listen” to the warnings of emerxjmtzywgency services.
“Some people have been very unlucky, driving at night into flooded water, being washed away into rapid waters,” he said.
“Other people have just made very poor choices and end up losing their life.”
Emergency services are warning residents along the entire east coast to avoid flood waters.
