‘Cyclonic’ winds and sideways rain batter east coast
Alex Mitchell, Jack Gramenz and Farid Farid |
Millions of residents on Australia’s east coast have battled through wild weather as “cyclonic” winds and pounding rain caused major power outages and flooding.
Gale-force gusts and heavy rain downed trees, damaged properties and closed roads from southern NSW to the mid-north coast, including across Sydney.
The state’s south coast was worst hit on Wednesday, including in Burrill Lake, where about 200 properties were flooded after 200mm of overnight rain.
Trees brought down powerlines, leaving tens of thousands of people – and some sewerage plants – offline.
The “sideways” rain was the worst Shoalhaven mayor Patricia White had seen in 30 years living in Ulladulla.
“The trees aren’t just dropping branches, the whole tree is coming out of the ground,” she told AAP.
Council staff were battling the weather late into the night.
“They made the call at midnight to come in because it was just too dangerous,” Ms White said.
From the 2019 Black Summer bushfires to repeated storms and floods, south coast residents had become all too experienced at dealing with damage, she said.
“We’ve had so many natural disasters in the past five years it is not funny,” Ms White said.
But it has made the community “really resilient”.
“We do know how to move in and solve the problem,” she said.
Emergency crews conducted seven flood rescues from people driving into floodwaters on the NSW south coast on Tuesday night, with three more on Wednesday.
Ulladulla postie Kevin Hayes saw Burrill Lakes flooding during a reconnaissance mission after an early morning call from the local newsagent.
“There was water lapping at his front door,” he said.
“We’re all still trying to go about our business, but there’s small parts of the community that just can’t get out.
The storm had been “kind of cyclonic”, Mr Hayes said.
“There was a shitload of rain and the winds have just been shocking.”
The SES has responded to nearly 3500 incidents in recent days and says people need to heed warnings to stay safe.
Endeavour Energy, which runs power around the state, including the south coast, said outages peaked at about 30,000 homes.
Power has been restored to about two-thirds of them.
But some customers will remain without power until at least Thursday morning.
A 55-year-old man was taken to hospital with serious head and torso injuries after a tree fell and crushed his truck at Moss Vale in the southern highlands.
The unconscious driver was extracted from his truck cabin at 10.30pm on Tuesday.
Hundreds of properties on the Central Coast and south coast were subject to evacuation or shelter-now warnings on Wednesday afternoon.
Sydney’s Warragamba Dam is expected to experience a “moderate spill” overnight into Thursday.
Residents on Lord Howe Island have been warned about damaging wind and surf, with the complex low pressure system that has battered the east coast expected to move into the Tasman Sea.
AAP
