Hundreds of stranded residents have been rescued from their homes and cars in NSW, as a "life-threatening" downpour that has triggered record-breaking floods heads to Sydney.
Vision of entire homes adrift in floodwater, cars inundated and people forced to evacuate their homes in tinnies have been captured in social media on the NSW mid-north coast, where major flooding has hit several towns.
Record-breaking rainfall has also hit parts of the mid-north coast and Hunter region, with rainfall 100-200mm above March records.
The Warragamba Dam, the primary reservoir of water supply for Sydney, began overflowing on Saturday afternoon.
The volume of water spilling out of the dam - located about 70km west of central Sydney - is expected to increase into Sunday as rainfall and flooding continues, Water NSW said.
The spill is expected to bring minor flooding to Penrith and North Richmond.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she had been briefed on the dam situation "in relation to a potential for a one and five year, one in 10 year, or one in 20 year event".
"All three scenarios being planned for," she told reporters on Saturday.
The premier said NSW was in the grip of a prolonged, extreme weather event and threatened communities would not be out of the woods until the end of next week.
People living on the mid-north coast, in the Hunter and Central Coast regions, in metropolitan Sydney, and in the catchment of Sydney's Warragamba Dam, must be on high alert, she said.
The premier says situation reports due by Saturday evening will determine which other communities will be ordered to leave their homes.
"Make sure if you are asked to evacuate you do so immediately. The window for evacuation is not a big one depending on where you live. Some communities already have been advised to stock up and stay home," Ms Berejiklian told reporters on Saturday.
"Within that window with a could potentially be cut off."
She said the danger would not pass until Thursday or Friday.
"It's not going to be an easy week for us but I know no matter what comes our way we will be able to deal with it."
Residents of the mid-north coast are also being warned to expect more rainfall this evening and into Sunday.
Entire homes under water in the NSW mid-north coast town of Kendall
Jen Clark/Supplied
“They're not quite out of the shadows yet. And the flood risk will remain,” Agata Imielska, senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, told reporters on Saturday.
The town of Kendall has been hit by 405mm of rain, while Red Oak was pelted with 371mm.
“It's a very significant, record-breaking event with the rainfall that we have seen,” Ms Imielska said.
The lower Blue Mountains are expected to see the worst of the rain on Saturday and into Sunday.
Concerns are focused on communities along the Georges River, an urban river in the city's south, and on the Hawkesbury/Nepean river system to the north and west of Sydney.
"It's a very dynamic and evolving flood situation and we could see some very deep and rapidly responding rivers with very high levels.
"We've got multiple flood warnings impacting coastal rivers all the way from the top of the mid-north coast ... all the way down into the Sydney region."
Those in low-lying properties around Taree, Dumaresq Island, Cundletown, Central Wingham and Wingham Peninsular were ordered to evacuate on Saturday morning.
Evacuation orders were also issued in Kempsey, Port Macquarie, North Haven, Dunbogan, Camden Head and Laurieton on Friday.
The Hastings and Camden Haven rivers have reached record levels. The Hastings River peaked at 12.1m near Port Macquarie breaking an eight-year-old record, and major flooding at Laurieton exceeded a record set in 1978.
The State Emergency Service has responded to more than 3200 calls for help since the wet weather began, including 335 flood rescues overnight.
That is a "huge number", NSW SES spokesman Andrew McCullough told AAP.
"A lot of those jobs are for people who are stuck in their houses, caravans, animals isolated by floodwater, people stuck in cars - it's really for a wide mix of things," he said.
Most of the calls are coming in from Taree, Wingham, Port Macquarie, Macksville, Settlement Point, Wauchope, Laurieton and North Haven.
"Every minute we get two or three more rescues coming through at the moment."
"This is not a typical sort of flood, these are life-threatening floodwaters and (it's) a very serious situation."
Calls for help from the Hunter and Sydney regions are starting to roll in too, as the system moves south, Mr McCullough said.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning on Saturday morning covering an area from the mid-north coast to the far south coast of NSW as well as Canberra.
The bureau warned of intense rainfall, flash flooding, damaging winds with gusts exceeding 90km/h, dangerous surf and coastal erosion.
Rain has plagued the Sydney area for most of the week, but the deluge arriving on Saturday will be on another level, the BOM says.
"We might see quite significant flash flooding and we've got a flood watch current for both the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers," bureau flood operations manager Justin Robinson said.
"We're likely to see a spill from Warragamba Dam and that will then impact those communities downstream."
The Public Information and Inquiry Centre has been activated, allowing members of the public to contact 1800 227 228 for information about the severe weather and flooding at any time of day.
The deluge is set to continue well into next week and could deliver the heaviest rainfall since February 2020, when Greater Sydney was hit.
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2021-03-20 05:33:39Z
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