Sydney dodges a bullet as Queensland’s ‘rain bomb’ finally runs out of steam
Parts of Greater Sydney have dodged a bullet as major flooding was avoided after less rain fell than expected, as the focus switches to the Hunter and Mid-North Coast regions.
Despite extensive flooding, Sydney has dodged the worst of Queensland's rain bomb. (Image: Supplied SES).
Dozens of evacuation orders still in place around the state could be removed on Friday, allowing many people to return home.
But the Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Hunter and the Mid-North Coast, warning expected heavy rain could lead to flash flooding during the day.
Some 130,000 homes in the path of a spilling Warragamba Dam in the Hawkesbury-Nepean region in western Sydney got a reprieve on Thursday afternoon after being told any flooding was likely to be less than the levels seen in March 2021.
A forecast for 600 gigalitres of water to spill over the dam wall daily has been been revised down to between 300 gigalitres and 350 gigalitres.
“We have dodged a bit of a bullet with the rain, but there is still a lot of danger in this catchment,” NSW Deputy Premier Stuart Ayres told the Nine Network on Friday.
“This has been a very close run thing, this could have been a catastrophic disaster.”
The BOM said flooding was still expected at Windsor, as the Hawkesbury and lower Nepean rivers continue to rise.
The NSW SES on Friday morning told residents living around the lower areas in the town of Portland, near Lithgow on the Hawkesbury River to evacuate and move to higher ground.
And people in the eastern part of Wisemans Ferry, 75km north west of Sydney, were on Friday morning told to get ready to evacuate properties around the town centre in the next few hours.
Mr Ayres noted evacuation orders are still in play for low-lying areas of the Hawkesbury and warned residents to be on alert for changes.
“We have seen how quickly the rivers have risen,” he said, as the focus turns to a clean up across the state.
Further north, the Richmond River delivered major flooding at Coraki, Bungawalbyn and Woodburn on Thursday, with peaks near the record March 1974 flood level, but Casino and Kyogle fell back below the minor flood level.
The NSW SES responded to more than 2500 requests for assistance and conducted 144 flood rescues in the 24 hours to 5pm on Thursday.
While the low pressure system that brought hundreds of millimetres of rain and devastating flooding to multiple areas in Queensland and NSW in the past week is due to ease on Friday, more severe weather could be on the way this weekend.
Another cold front on the way from Victoria will bring more rain and severe weather on Saturday, the BOM said, which could cause rivers to start rising again.
The death toll from the NSW floods event remains at five, including four fatalities in the north western town of Lismore.
