The only thing to talk about in Sydney today was the weather. Specifically the rain, the enormous amounts of rain. Today was the 15th day in a row of rain here, and the heaviest. The Bureau of Meteorology forecast 150 mm of rain, and it looks like we may even exceed that. Added on to the previous two weeks of rain, with saturated soils and dams already full to overflowing, and it was a recipe for disaster.
First off, I’m fine, and my home is fine. I don’t live in a low-lying area, and I didn’t venture out onto the roads today.
But many people across Sydney are not so lucky. All of Sydney’s rivers, the Nepean, Hawkesbury, Parramatta, Georges, and Cooks Rivers are all flooded and spilling out into surrounding low-lying areas. Evacuation orders have been issued for dozens of suburbs, with the warning that people may be stranded in regions without power or water and it may be too dangerous to rescue them. On top of this there is widespread flash flooding all over the city, with roads being inundated and water flowing into properties. Hundreds of people have been stranded in waterlogged cars, and unfortunately two people have been recovered after losing their lives in floodwater. This is on top of the 20 people killed so far in the ongoing flooding across the rest of New South Wales and Queensland. There have also been a few landslides in places in and around Sydney.
The rain is expected to ease tomorrow, and we might even get some sunshine on Thursday, before more rain comes in after that. But tonight we have a gale warning current, for winds up to 110 km/h. Given all the trees across the city completely saturated with water, that’s going to cause a lot of them to blow over. Hopefully I’ll be here tomorrow…
New content today: