A torrential downpour off the east coast of Australia on Thursday caused nearly a month of rain in Sydney, with suburban roads turning into rivers and authorities warning of more in the coming days.
Emergency workers rescued a flood-hit man in the northwestern part of the city, media reported, as television footage showed vehicles struggling to cross waterlogged roads, fallen power lines and debris floating in trees and rivers.
Residents of a nursing home were evacuated overnight as emergency workers urged 5 million residents of the port city to avoid unnecessary travel and to brace for possible relocations.
“It simply came to our notice then. These events are progressing exceptionally fast, “said Daniel Austin, acting commissioner for emergency services in New South Wales, during a media briefing.
Sydney has received 1,227 millimeters (48 inches) of rain so far this year, more than its annual average of 1,213 millimeters. In the next 24 hours, many coastal cities could rise up to 180 millimeters, the meteorological bureau said.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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On March 9, debris was found scattered outside a house in Lismore, South Australia.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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A man navigates floodwaters from the swollen Manley Creek in Manly Valley, Australia on March 8.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Patricia Powell retrieves items from her mother’s flooded home in Woodburn, Australia on March 7.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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A drone photo shows flood-damaged homes in Woodburn on March 7
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Craig Ashcroft, left, and Rob Benhacker clean a friend’s house in Tumbulgam, Australia, March 6.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Volunteers from the local rural fire brigade clean an elementary school in Tumbulgam March 6.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Alison Brugge, left, inspects her destroyed home, which was swept away from its base on March 4, near Viralla, Australia.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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March 4 A pile of rubble on a main street in Lismore, Australia.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Michelle Laurie hugs a coworker who came to help clean her house in Lismore on March 3.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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March 3 In Brisbane, Australia, people use a boat to store things from their homes.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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State Emergency Service volunteers rescue a lama from a flooded farm in west Sydney on March 3rd.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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A man walks through the rain on Manly Beach in Sydney on March 3rd.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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The deer were kept in a cage as they moved away from flooded farmland on the outskirts of Sydney on March 3.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Blankets and sheets dried outside a flooded house in Brisbane on 2 March.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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Flying instructor Peter Clement, on the right, and his wife Kerry stand in waist-high water as they test their aircraft at a flooded hangar on the Grafton Air Strip in Grafton, Australia on March 2nd.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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The discarded furniture sits outside Lismore on March 2nd.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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March 1 Debris is found at a ferry terminal on the Brisbane River in Hawthorne, Australia.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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People use small boats to navigate the flood waters in Lismore on 28 February.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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The ruined field of Mitchellton Football Club is seen in Brisbane on 28 February.
Photos & Colon; Floods in Australia
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A man carries a wedding photo as people evacuate their homes in Gudna, Australia, on February 26th.
Bondi’s tourist hotspot recorded about 170 millimeters in the 24-hour period until 9 a.m. Thursday, official data shows.
Thousands of people have been instructed to evacuate their homes as businesses clean up essential items to help reduce their losses.
Nicola Gilfilan, owner of a cafির in south-west Sydney, told ABC: “All hands are on the deck to try to save some furniture … so we were very busy lifting things up … removing things, unplugging filters and electrical plug and Things like this “. Television
The oil leaked into the floodwaters due to an overflow from a fuel hole at a site owned by the oil refinery Ampol, south of Sydney, but emergency workers said the spill was controlled and there was no danger in the area.
A severe weather warning has spread to more than 600 kilometers (373 miles) along the south coast of New South Wales but the situation is expected to ease from Thursday evening, the Meteorological Bureau said.
The east coast of Australia is dominated by La Nina weather events in the summer, usually associated with increased rainfall, for the second year in a row, with most rivers in power before the last wet. The Waragamba Dam, Sydney’s main water supply, is expected to burst on Friday, authorities said.
In six weeks, three severe weather conditions have hit eastern Australia, with North New South Wales and several parts of south-east Queensland receiving record rainfall and Sydney recording its wettest march on record.
Climate change is also widely believed to be a contributing factor to severe weather, which raises questions about how prepared Australia is.
Several cities across northern New South Wales are still struggling to clear debris after two devastating floods in March, but the latest weather events have swept the state’s central and south coasts.
