As heavy rain belts fill catchments to the east, severe thunderstorms will bring large hail and a flash flood risk to inland New South Wales, renewing the threat of flooding to the state’s coastal rivers.
Steph Cooke, the minister responsible for flood recovery, stated on Friday, “We’re bracing for considerable rainfall throughout NSW today” (local time).
Severe thunderstorm alerts have been issued for parts of the Northern Rivers, North West Slopes and Plains and Northern Tablelands.
On Friday, storms in northern NSW will bring a lot of rain and raise the risk of flash floods in Kyogle, Urbenville, and Wiangaree.
On Friday, emergency services are closely monitoring the Gwydir, Namoi, and Upper Macintyre rivers after heavy rain on Thursday caused new water increases throughout the inland catchments.
The following locations will have severe thunderstorms on Friday: Moree, Narrabri, Barraba, Bellata, Burren Junction, Wee Waa, and Boggabri.
At Moree, more than 100mm of rain poured in six hours on Friday, and by Saturday night, there is a chance of moderate flooding (local time).
Emergency services are continuing their efforts in Moama, Victoria’s Echuca’s sister town, where flooding has been a recent concern.
The Murray River passed major flood levels late on Wednesday night and is now within 20 centimetres of the 94. 77m height of a 1993 flood, the area’s second-worst on record.
The Murray is forecast by the bureau to rise to about 95 metres next week, which is still less than the 96.20 metres of its worst flood in 1870.
This week, hundreds of residents have been told to leave Moama and its surroundings.
Cooke declared that “we are very much on high alert.”
“Natural disasters have repeatedly hit communities, especially since the 2019–20 bushfire season.
Cooke made the remarks before to the launch of a temporary housing community in Coraki, a town in the Northern Rivers, which is sheltering locals who were displaced by flooding in Lismore and the surrounding area earlier this year.
Residents of western Sydney are anticipating minor to significant flooding to start on Friday due to the rising Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers.
Windsor, Penrith, and North Richmond, among other areas, have been instructed to keep an eye on the weather.
This year, there have already been two significant floods in the Hawkesbury-Nepean region.
The threat is increased by the fact that the area will likely experience widespread rains on Friday before another rain-bearing storm forms over the weekend.
“Another low-pressure system is set to form over southern NSW and that will drive further showers and storms into mid-next week,” senior Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jonathan How said.
“Thunderstorms have been sporadic, although some places have received more than 100mm of precipitation.”
In the Brewarrina shire, Warren, the town of Tilpa in the far west, and along the Murray, there was significant flooding.
The flooding threat comes as the NSW government presses the federal government to share funding for the proposed $1. 6 billion raising of the Warragamba Dam on a tributary of the Nepean River.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Friday on 2GB that “this is a vital project for the protection of property and life in western Sydney.”
New South Wales, which has been battered, prepares for further flooding.
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