Persistent and heavy rain has caused flash flooding in New South Wales, with emergency services responding to more than 2,000 calls and assisting with evacuations.
Much of NSW’s mid-north coast and Hunter region has copped the barrage, with 24 flood rescues in the past 24 hours.
As of Tuesday morning, the SES had received 2,000 calls in the same period, responded to 1,400 incidents and evacuated 60 people.
Taree experienced the worst rain, with more than 160mm falling in six hours overnight and 267mm since 9am on Monday.
“We’ve seen significant flooding in Taree overnight, a couple of the flood rescues we undertook were for people in houses in locations where water rose incredibly swiftly over their floors and they had to be relocated again, all brought to safety,” the NSW State Emergency Service chief superintendent of state operations, Dallas Byrnes, told ABC TV.
Lisa Mumford, a Burrell Creek resident, was flooded in at her property between Taree and Wingham after flood waters cut off access along Bucketts Way.
“It’s just rained really heavily all night. Really heavy rain but with no break,” she said.
“The creeks are up. They’re all much higher than normal and are rising. You’ve got causeways that are no longer accessible, bridges and driveways that can’t be used.”
Mumford said schools, including the local Tinonee public school, had closed and some childcare centres were operating with reduced staff.
“It’s a major rain event. We’re seeing access to services and towns completely blocked and the forecast is it’s going to continue, which means the potential for waterways to rise is still there,” she said.
Dheera Smith is a former Mid-Coast council councillor and a resident of Mondrook near Taree. She was also flooded in on Tuesday morning after bridges, including the Bight Bridge at Wingham, were closed due to rising water levels.
“I look down toward the [Manning] River. It’s usually grass pastures but now the river is covering that all over,” she said.
“There was heavy rain all night. The water gauges are full. People who are stuck on their properties – they’ll be stuck a while.”
Minor to major warnings for flooding on catchments across the mid-north coast and Hunter regions remained in place, while people in Taree were advised to take shelter.
The SES asked people in isolated locations in the area to evacuate, including at Dungog, Paterson, Gloucester, Bulahdelah and Chinchester Dam.
“We are asking the community to be really, really conscious of their location … we are seeing lots of local creeks rise very quickly,” Byrnes said.
“We have had numerous rescues from people entering flood waters [but] we’ve also done the majority from people who’ve just been in the wrong place, and flash flooding has taken them by surprise.”
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said 1,600 SES personnel had been deployed, 68 schools had closed and there were emergency centres open, including at Taree.
“We’re asking for common sense, a sense of community coming together,” he said.
“These are resilient towns. They’ve been through a lot before. We’re hoping and praying that the next 24 hours pass without incidents, but we’re ready in case the worst arrives.”
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Jenny Aitchison, the minister for roads and regional transport and the member for Maitland, warned people in affected areas not to drive through flood waters.
“I’ve seen some horrendous videos just in the last 24 hours up in the Newcastle area and the Hunter of people driving through flood waters,” she said on Tuesday.
“It only takes driving through 30cm of flood water to significantly shift your car and lose control. You don’t know what damage has happened underneath that car, underneath that road surface.
“When you take your car into flood waters, you risk not only your own life, but also the lives of those people who will try and save you. So … please stay off the roads and do not go through flooded waters.”
That call was repeated by the state emergency services minister Jihad Dib at a media conference with emergency services on Tuesday afternoon. Dib said too many of the 24 rescues SES teams had conducted over the past day were the result of people going through floodwaters.
“I don’t know how many times I need to say this – please, do not drive through flood waters. Not only do you put yourself at risk, you put others at risk and you put them in harm’s way,” he said.
Andrew Cribb, NSW SES northern zone commander, told the media conference that several areas had experienced “unprecedented rainfall” in a short amount of time.
He said short, intense bursts of rain were expected to lead to further flash flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology was predicting rain levels between 60 to 100mm in six hours on Tuesday in parts of the mid-north coast and Hunter, increasing to 100 too 190mm in isolated locations.
While damaging winds and surf were expected to ease later on Tuesday, the extreme weather was tipped to stick around for some days.
Steve Bernasconi, hazard preparedness and response manager for the Bureau of Meteorology, told Tuesday’s media conference that the cause of the rainfall was a persistent coastal trough that was currently positioned around the mid-north coast and was expected to track slowly northwards.
“This is a multi-day event: a multi-day weather event that’s turned into a multi-day flood event,” he said.
“And it will be focused on the Hunter and the mid-north coast today and into tomorrow with the potential for rainfall to still persist along the coast into the end of the week and weekend.”
More than 60 schools were closed on Tuesday in the mid-north coast, Central Coast and Hunter regions due to flooding. The NSW education department reminded parents that schools do not offer minimal supervision during flood events.
Trains were not running between Scone, in the upper Hunter, and Newcastle.
