The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) advised that the weather system would bring 50 to 150 millimeters of rainfall, but some areas could receive rainfall up to 200mm.
ABC confirms that there are currently 76 evacuation orders in place covering 200,000 people and 18 evacuation warnings covering nearly 300,000 people.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet warned Sydney residents that “things will get worse before they get better” as 500,000 residents across the state are ordered to evacuate their homes as heavy rainfall is expected today.
Massive flooding has already been recorded at Menangle and North Richmond on Sydney’s outskirts. While Penrith and Windsor have been experiencing moderate flooding at the moment, Windsor could potentially experience river rises which can cause major flooding.
“Many people are waking up today to see much of our state underwater,” Mr. Perrottet said.
“We do expect particularly in the Hawkesbury region that the floods will be worse than they were last year and that we see more torrential rain and flooding in Newcastle and Hunter over the course of the day.”
ABC further confirms that evacuation orders were issued this morning for flood-affected parts of the city with thousands of people living along the Hawkesbury River in Sydney’s north-west and the Nepean and Georges Rivers in the south-west – they were told to evacuate by 9 am.
Many roads across Sydney remained closed due to flooding, including the Bells Line of Road at North Richmond, the Yarramundi Bridge, and Windsor Bridge.
