Australian authorities plan to evacuate thousands of more people from flood-hit suburbs in the west of Sydney’s metropolis on Monday. They expect the worst flooding in 60 years, with torrential rains likely to continue for the next few days.
Over the past three days, the massive rainfall has caused rivers in the densely populated state of New South Wales (NSW) to burst their banks and cause extensive damage. Thousands of people have already been evacuated. “We have to brace ourselves; it will be a tough week,” state Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.
Torrential rain that flooded large NSW areas contrasts sharply with weather conditions in the same regions a year ago when the authorities faced drought and catastrophic wildfires. “I don’t know a single moment in the history of the state where we’ve had these extreme weather events so quickly in succession, during a pandemic,” said Berejiklian.
Sydney recorded the wettest day of the year on Sunday with nearly 111 millimetres of rain, while some regions on the state’s north coast had nearly 900 millimetres of rain in the last six days, more than three times what falls on average in March. About 18,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying parts of New South Wales, authorities say.
Large parts of the country’s east coast will be hit by more heavy rainfall from Monday, meteorologists expect. Some places in Sydney’s western regions have seen the worst flooding since 1961, authorities said. They expect the bad weather to last until Wednesday.
Large areas of New South Wales and neighbouring Queensland are under serious flood risk.
