Residents of NSW have been urged to remain vigilant of potential flooding, despite this week’s torrential rainfall beginning to ease.
Earlier this week, rainfall soaked Sydney and parts of the state, with some parts in Wollongong receiving more than 200 millimetres of rain in one night.
Speaking at a press conference today, NSW SES Acting Commissioner Deb Platz said, since Tuesday afternoon, 850 incidents across Sydney and the Illawarra coast had been responded to by volunteers.
The SES currently has more than 30 warnings in place, with 12 being emergency orders.
But Ms Platz said since, the weather has been contracting and that today most of the state “will only see limited amounts of rainfall”.
“But that does not mean that the risk is not there.
“Because what we are going to see now is riverine flooding in many areas, particularly in the west of Sydney.”
She said this riverine flooding would “continue predominantly throughout today and hopefully will ease later this afternoon and into tomorrow”.
“So despite the fact that there are blue skies, we really need people to actually understand where they are going, what routes are actually open, and when they see flooded waters that you do not drive in those waters.”
Rising floodwater prompted the closure of Richmond bridge on Friday afternoon — it remains inaccessible today.
Windsor bridge remains open.
Ms Platz said all flood warnings are either minor or moderate, impacting the Hawkesbury Nepean rivers, the Cooks River, the Woronora River, Shoalhaven River, St George’s basin and Hastings River.
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Dam levels receding
Water NSW CEO Andrew George said that Warragamba Dam, located in Sydney’s south-west, had peaked overnight.
“The good news is that spill is now declining, and we expect the spill rate to fall back to more normal releases and river conditions in a few days time. We are still receiving good inflows into the catchment,” he said.
Mr George added that while most of the dams across Greater Sydney were “spilling at the moment”, they were also declining.
“We have full dams across the Sydney basin at the moment, and we have a good chance of more wet weather,” he said.
“So we do just urge the community to be vigilant and to continue to follow the advice of the SES and the Bureau of Meteorology.”
Appreciation for volunteers
Ms Platz expressed her appreciation for those who volunteered with the SES.
“We can’t thank them enough for the time and effort that they put in — their expertise and skill is amazing, and they are always dedicated and help our community.”
NSW minister of emergency services Jihad Dib added his gratitude for the state emergency workers and volunteers.
He also said he was pleased that the community responded to the SES and their advice.
“They did make that preparation where people were told to evacuate. They did do that.”
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