Thousands flee homes as floodwaters rise across Sydney - 9News

Sydney is in the grips of a new weather emergency with thousands of people fleeing their homes in the city's west overnight as heavy rain sparked more flooding.

Camden is at risk of being cut off by rising waters, with the Nepean River sitting at 11.5 metres before 6am on Tuesday - and forecast to rise up to two metres further.

Evacuation orders have been issued for suburbs throughout Sydney as floodwaters rise. (9News)

Mayor Theresa Fedeli urged Camden residents to take care and pay heed to warnings.

"Please stay home. Don't go out if you don't need to. If you've been told to evacuate, please evacuate straight away," she said on Today.

Volunteers preparing for the Camden Show - the state's second-largest show - have been forced to scramble to relocate historical artefacts, computers and other items to higher ground.

Elsewhere in Sydney, the rain was so intense it caused the roof of a supermarket in Hurstville to collapse.

Floods have left cars half-submerged across Sydney, with people warned to not drive through flooded roads. (9News)

People have been asked to avoid public transport as well as driving if possible as heavy rain continues to slam Sydney.

Sydney Trains has warned that significant delays and cancellations are expected across the rail network today.

Further south, the Illawarra is bracing for up to 200mm of rain to hit today after already copping a drenching yesterday, and overnight.

NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearns has warned that flooding is likely to continue across the state today and into Wednesday with heavy rain set to overwhelm catchments.

"The east coast low is moving down from the north coast over the Sydney metropolitan area, into the Illawarra," Mr Kearns told Today.

"What the (Bureau of Meteorology) have advised is that we're going to see anywhere up to 100mm and 150mm in rain falling into the catchments, which will rise rapidly because we have seen a lot of river rises and also flash flooding."

Mr Kearns said in the past 24 hours, the SES had responded to more than 1100 flood rescues and more than 2400 requests for assistance across NSW.

Most had been on the Mid North Coast, metropolitan Sydney, and the Illawarra.

Flooding is set to continue into Wednesday. (Nick Moir)

"There are predictions that we could get up to a major flood level in the Kempsey area and impacting the CBD, and the lower Macleay areas," he said.

"We are also thinking that later today Sussex Inlet and St George's Basin, as well in the Illawarra, may also be impacted."

He also warned that a number of landslips were taking place in Sydney and down the south coast.

SES volunteers on the ground at Penrith have warned that river rises could see a repeat of last year's Hawkesbury floods.

The Nepean River, which flows into the Hawkesbury, is currently at 7.1 metres – a "significant increase" on Friday.

The volunteers told Today they expected it to rise further tonight.

It is set to potentially peak at 8.5 metres, though it's hoped it will stay under that level.

But it is expected to reach 7.9 metres later this morning.

Major flooding is expected in the Hawkesbury. (Nick Moir)

A height of 8.5 metres could see the town of Windsor suffer similar flooding to last March.

This could see the bridge cut off, and lower-lying areas of the Hawkesbury inundated further.

"Moderate to major level flooding" is expected in Windsor in the coming days.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe weather warnings for the NSW coast, amid warnings of a deepening low moving through the state's east.

Camden risks being cut off as the Nepean River swells. (9News)

"That means we've got increasing concerns from the Central Coast all the way down to the Illawarra area, extending well inland as well to the Blue Mountains, the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and the Sydney metropolitan area," the BoM's Dean Narramore said.

"Of particular concern are the already saturated catchments we have from the Hunter all the way down to the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and even in towards the Shoalhaven and Wollongong areas as well."

Flooding will be "highly dependent on where the heaviest falls occur", Mr Narramore said.

The clean-up is continuing in NSW's north. (Janie Barrett)

More than 1000 Defence Force troops are heading to northern NSW today to help with the flood clean-up.

They'll join the 630 personnel already on the ground.

Premier Dominic Perrottet yesterday conceded there had been a lot of anger and frustration in the region, with communities feeling isolated during the crisis.

He warned the recovery process would take "weeks, months, and years".

Mr Perrottet is set to return to the flood-battered Northern Rivers region today.

Epic clean-up begins in flooded Queensland and NSW

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has defended the time it took to deploy troops to flood-hit regions amid criticism the response has not been strong enough.

"My instruction to the chief of the Defence Force from day one has been very clear, and that is whatever it takes to provide support to people in flood affected areas, in particular in northern NSW where it's more a cyclone than a flood," Mr Dutton told Today.

"And we've taken every piece of advice that they've had."

Mr Dutton said there would be 5000 Defence personnel involved in the operation by the end of the week.

He said it had not been feasible in the earlier stages of the crisis to deploy such large numbers, with the ADF electing to carry out rescues via helicopter instead.

"So naturally as the waters recede, you will see a greater number of people on the ground," Mr Dutton said.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMijAFodHRwczovL3d3dy45bmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvbnN3LWZsb29kcy11cGRhdGUtZXZhY3VhdGlvbi1vcmRlcnMtYWNyb3NzLXN5ZG5leS1oZWF2eS1yYWluLXdhcm5pbmdzLzM2MTk4M2M1LTA1MTctNDgzMy04NjExLTI2OGY5YWVmMmE3ZtIBAA?oc=5

2022-03-07 21:23:20Z
1319909618

Bagikan Berita Ini