- Rains likely to ease in Sydney soon, move north
- 50,000 NSW residents face evacuation
- In some places, a year’s rainfall falls in three days
SYDNEY, July 5 (Reuters) – Torrential rain continued to lash Australia’s east coast on Tuesday, intensifying Sydney’s flooding crisis as thousands more residents were ordered to evacuate their homes after rivers quickly broke dangerous levels.
About 50,000 residents in New South Wales, most in Sydney’s western suburbs, were either told to evacuate or warned they could receive evacuation orders, compared with 30,000 on Monday, authorities said.
“This event is far from over,” New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters. “Wherever you are, please be careful when driving on our roads. There are still significant risks of flash flooding.”
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who returned to Australia on Tuesday after a week-long trip to Europe, said he would tour the affected regions on Wednesday with Perot.
The federal government has declared the floods a natural disaster, helping flood-affected residents receive emergency financial support.
The latest wild storm – which brought some areas a year’s worth of rain in three days – is likely to weaken in Sydney from Tuesday as the coastal depression moves north, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said.
But the risk of flooding could remain through the week, with most river catchments already close to capacity even before the latest deluge. Some regions have received 800 mm (31.5 inches) of rain since Saturday, eclipsing Australia’s average annual rainfall of about 500 mm (20 inches).
About 90mm (3.5in) of rain could fall in six hours across the state’s mid-north coast from Tuesday, reaching 125mm (5in) in some places, the BoM said.
Winds of up to 90 km/h (56 mph) are also forecast in several flood-affected locations, raising the risk of downed trees and power lines.
Battling rough seas, emergency crews continued their rescue operation on Tuesday to tow a bulk carrier that lost power off the coast of Sydney after the tow lines snapped in bad weather, officials said.
State Emergency Service (SES) personnel prepare to deploy as floods inundate residential areas after heavy rain in the suburb of Windsor, Sydney, Australia July 5, 2022. REUTERS/Lauren Elliott
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Major flooding is occurring in Windsor in Sydney’s west, the third and worst flooding this year, according to the Met Office.
Footage on social media showed submerged roads and bridges as emergency crews rescued stranded people from partially submerged vehicles stuck in the rushing waters.
Nigel Myron, a Windsor resident, said he had prepared an inflatable boat in case he had to evacuate, although he wanted to return to his site once the waters receded.
“After all, what can you do? It is what it is and we’re dusting off the ashes and rebuilding after the floods have come and gone,” Myron told ABC television.
“SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC IMPACT”
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned the economic impact of the flooding “will be significant”.
The flooding is likely to have inundated several food-producing regions and will hit supplies and push up prices, further straining family budgets already shaken by a spike in fruit and vegetable prices, Chalmers said.
“There’s no point in tiptoeing around this … this inflation problem we have in our economy is going to get worse before it gets better.” There are many sources, but this (flooding) will be one of them,” Chalmers told Sky News.
The Reserve Bank of Australia noted the flooding was “also affecting some prices” as it raised its cash rate by a hefty 50 basis points on Tuesday and signaled that tighter tightening was ahead to tame rising inflation. Read more
The Insurance Council of Australia, which has declared the floods a “significant event”, has urged people affected to file claims, although the full extent of the damage is not yet known.
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Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feist.
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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