32,000 Australians Told to Evacuate as Sydney Faces Fourth ‘Once in a 100 Year’ Flooding Event

Flooded streets in the Sydney suburb of Camden on July 3, 2022. Photo by MUHAMMAD FAROOQ/AFP via Getty Images

Thousands of residents in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) are evacuating yet again as intense rainfall sees rivers north and west of Sydney swell and threaten to inundate their communities.

Currently, 32,000 people have been told to evacuate or issued warnings with 71 evacuation orders and 64 warnings in place as heavy rain continues.

This will be the fourth time some communities have experienced flooding this year.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the heavy rain may lead to flash flooding in the Illawarra, Blue Mountains, Sydney Metropolitan

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued multiple flood warnings for the state, including major warnings for communities along the Hawkesbury, Nepean, and Colo rivers, which in some places have reached the record levels seen in February and March 2022.

This comes as an East Coast Low off the NSW Hunter and Central Coast brings intense winds and heavy rainfall to the Hunter, Central Coast, Sydney, Blue Mountains and Illawarra regions, with over 100 millimetres of rain (3.94 inches) falling on Sunday night alone, on top of the hundreds that fell on Saturday and Sunday.

Floods Expected to Be Highest Seen in Recent Months

State Emergency Services (SES) have issued multiple evacuation orders, including for areas impacted by the Hawkesbury River northwest of Sydney, such as Riverstone, Windsor, Richmond, Pitt Town, and Sackville, as well as communities in parts of Penrith, Wallacia and Emu Plains, along the Nepean River west of Sydney.

BOM manager Jane Golding told reporters on Sunday that North Richmond and Windsor are likely to see flood levels close to or possibly higher than those seen in the previous few flooding events.

“So, over the floods, they saw in April this year and March, which were very high, and also in March last year,” she said. “So those flood peaks will be coming in through tonight and tomorrow.”

The Windsor Bridge is seen inundated by floodwaters along the Hawkesbury River in Sydney, Australia on March 09, 2022. Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

No Room for Complacency

NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York warned residents whose houses survived the flood events earlier this year not to be complacent.

“Just because it got to the front doorstep on the last floods doesn’t mean that it won’t escalate overnight,” she told reporters on Sunday, adding that dams are over 100 percent capacity, with large amounts of water in the river systems flowing down into various communities, as well as extensive rain in other areas bringing flash flooding.

York reminded residents of at-risk areas to have a radio with batteries at the ready in case of a power outage.

“There’s a significant risk to power across a large number of these areas because of the risk of trees down and debris and flood waters flowing through these communities, so be aware and be able to get that information that’s really important so you can make those safe and sensible escape decisions,” she said.

As of 7 p.m. Sunday night, SES members had responded to 3,111 requests for assistance since the start of the severe weather event on Friday, including 137 rescues.

Although the rate of rain is expected to decline around the Sydney and Illawarra regions from Monday night and the Central Coast and Hunter regions from Wednesday, Golding stressed that continued shower activity is expected along the NSW coast for the rest of the week.

“And that just means the catchments, they’re not drying out, and so any follow-up systems that we get over the next couple of weeks—we are still in a coast low season—means the flood risk does remain,” she said on Monday.