NSW floods: Wild weather sweeps the inner city, eastern suburbs and inner west

By SEJA AL ZAIDI

Severe weather events have impacted Sydneysiders across the inner city, eastern suburbs and inner west across the past two weeks. 

Catastrophic flood waters are wreaking havoc across NSW, with severe flooding rapidly impacting Northern NSW, as well as the Central Coast and Hunter regions. 

Recovery and clean-up efforts have begun taking place in the state’s north after the regional city of Lismore suffered its worst-ever flooding crisis. Flood-ravaged communities faced isolation and entrapment, giving way to concerns that metropolitan Sydney could suffer potential flooding as a consequence of record-breaking levels of rainfall. 

Severe rainfall has affected most parts of metropolitan Sydney for nine consecutive days, with Thursday marking the highest number of continuous days experiencing more than 13mm of rain in Sydney. 

Closures and work-from-home orders have been given to workers across Sydney, with the severity of rainfall rendering most travel risky and potentially unnecessary. Transport for NSW has minimised its frequency of services, reporting on Friday morning that there is “expected to be several impacts to the transport network, particularly the Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink networks”.

Transport for NSW also urged customers to “consider postponing travel” amid impacts to power supply issues, debris-ridden overhead wiring and tracks blocked by trees.

The inner city has been impacted in various ways by the weather events, with councils reiterating warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology to their residents.  

City of Sydney 

The City of Sydney council urged residents to stay up to date with Bureau of Meteorology updates, releasing reminders of severe weather warnings in place for the Sydney metropolitan area. 

Recommendations for residents to start preparing for potential wild weather have been issued by the NSW SES’ City of Sydney unit, which include securing and putting away loose items around the balcony and backyard, cleaning gutters and trimming branches, bringing pets indoors and parking cars away from trees

NSW SES also released road weather alerts for all Sydney suburbs, urging motorists to take care in dangerous road conditions. 

The council encouraged residents to keep track of Live Traffic NSW updates. 

Woollahra 

Woollahra Council urged residents to assist recovery efforts in a mindful way, encouraging the community to help “NSW and QLD governments make sure flood-damaged communities get what they really need” by donating through non-profit platform GIVIT. 

Waverley 

Waverley Council has reported severe effects from the heavy rainfall, including the closure of the Bondi to Bronte walk between Notts Avenue in Bondi Beach and Marks Park in Tamarama. Parts of the walk have been flooded entirely by high tides, rendering it too dangerous to cross. The walk will reopen ‘when it is safe’, however, no reopening date has been provided.

Following the impacts of the heavy rainfall, council urged residents to stay safe and encouraged them to report potholes, water damage, fallen branches and other significant debris through Waverley’s ‘Snap, Send and Solve’ mobile phone application, which enables residents to photograph damage and send it through to the council for assessment and remediation. 

Beachwatch, which is part of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, said that “stormwater pollution may be impacting most swimming sites” as a consequence of “extreme wet weather conditions and flooding”.

Warnings to avoid Bondi Beach were made amid the potential presence of pollution. The latest update on their website encourages residents to “avoid swimming if you can see signs of pollution such as discoloured water and floating debris”. 

Randwick

Randwick Council has been issuing precautionary measures for residents, issuing updates on beach closures across the area. 

Maroubra Beach has been closed since March 2, with wave heights reaching over two metres and dangerous conditions rendering the beach unsafe to reopen yet.

Coogee Beach has also been closed since March 2, with council reporting dangerous surf conditions and a likelihood of bluebottles residing in the waves. 

Clovelly Beach has remained open despite dangerous conditions, with rough and choppy weather giving way to large, dangerous surf conditions. There is also a likelihood of bluebottles being present at the beach.

The NSW SES Randwick Unit has been releasing severe weather warning updates, with “locally intense rainfall leading to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding possible with thunderstorms and six-hourly rainfall totals up to 200 mm possible”.

Residents were urged to make smart decisions on the road and to avoid flooded areas when driving.

Inner West

The Enmore Theatre has reported that they have repaired their main dance floor after it collapsed beneath the crowd’s feet at a Genesis Owusu concert on Thursday. The collapse was caused by “the impact of the relentless rain and excessive water”, creating a sinkage that was remediated by Friday morning. 

Nobody was hurt during the incident, but the sold-out concert was evacuated promptly once the floor began to cave in, prior to venue managers assessing the damage and the repair process. 

The NSW SES Unit in Marrickville asked residents to note that the SES phone number was “experiencing significant delays due to the large volume of requests for assistance from the community”, following the heavy rainfall and flooding.

Warnings were issued that there may be delays in SES volunteers being able to provide assistance as they were redirected to life-threatening situations. 

Flood warnings for Marrickville were released as roads suffered a deluge of heavy rainfall, with council urging residents to stay safe on the roads and to steer clear from flood-impacted areas. Residents were told to avoid the following roads, due to their history of flooding problems:

• Carrington Road, Marrickville 

• Holt Crescent, Marrickville

• Beauchamp and Myrtle Streets, Marrickville 

• Wardell Road, Marrickville

A-frames, barrier boards, road closed signage and sandbags were distributed to NSW SES’s Marrickville Unit and the NSW SES Ashfield-Leichhardt Unit. 

The council has been working to respond to queries on damaged trees and vegetation.

Council staff packed over 100 sandbags at the Balmain Depot yesterday, with two pallets delivered to the NSW SES Marrickville Unit site on the morning of March 2.

Schools across these catchment areas managed to avoid closure on Thursdays, as many schools in northwestern and southwestern Sydney were shut down to ensure the safety of students and staff.

Closure and warning updates continue to be released by councils and public services as the wet weather conditions are expected to ravage NSW and QLD.