A quad bike has been pictured hanging from the power lines of a regional Queensland town – a terrifying insight into how high the floodwaters peaked.
Shocking images from Gympie, north of the Sunshine Coast, show the all-terrain vehicle hanging from electric wires by its handle bars on Wednesday morning in the aftermath of the severe storms.
The quad bike can be seen perched high above the gate to a home, covered in weeds and debris.
The Mary River in nearby Maryborough saw a record peak of 11metres, with water only just starting to recede.
A quad bike has been pictured hanging from the power lines of a regional Queensland town – a scary insight into how high the floodwaters peaked
Shocking images from Gympie, north of the Sunshine Coast, show the all-terrain vehicle hanging from electricity wires by its handle bars on Wednesday morning
A massive deluge of rain is expected to dump on Sydney and surrounding regions about lunchtime with the Bureau of Meteorology saying the much-anticipated ‘rain bomb’ has been delayed.
An east coast low is crawling down the coast of New South Wales with evacuations ordered in Ballina, on the far north coast of NSW, with warnings issued for 11 river systems across the state, including Sydney.
But despite previous forecasts of heavy rain, many Sydneysiders woke up to light showers on Wednesday morning.
Meteorologist Jackson Browne said: ‘We are still expecting (the storm) to come onto the coast some time today, most likely during the middle of the day.’
Mr Browne said rainfall was expected in such volumes – 120mm over a six hour period – that flash flooding was a possibility between from Sydney down to Bega, on the state’s south coast.
Warragamba Dam has already started to spill, which could continue for up to two weeks, WaterNSW has warned.
Large swathes of the NSW coast are bracing for a drenching on Wednesday (pictured Sydneysiders battling the rain on Tuesday)
The much-anticipated but delayed ‘rain bomb’ is expected to hit Sydney lunchtime Wednesday
‘There is a severe weather warning which is current, so that’s for rainfall of 80-120mm in a six-hour period so flash flooding is definitely on the cards, through Sydney down to about Bega,’ Mr Browne said.
‘We have flood warnings from the Hunter right down towards the Victorian border,’ he said.
The warning comes after the body of a second elderly woman was found in Lismore overnight.
Police confirmed on Wednesday the body of a woman aged in her 80s was found inside her South Lismore home, hours after another woman’s body was found in her home.
The flood crisis in northern NSW continues with thousands of Ballina residents forced to evacuate, including hospital patients.
The entire town is on evacuation alert after the Richmond River burst its banks.
Dangerous weather conditions are expected all the way from south of Newcastle in the Hunter to north of Eden on the South Coast and reach inland as far as the Blue Mountains.
Sydneysiders in low lying areas are on high alert after the Bureau of Meteorology issued flood warnings for the city’s west, north-west and south-west on Wednesday morning.
Flood warnings include the Upper Nepean at Menangle, the Hawkesbury River at Richmond at Windsor and the Colo River at Upper Colo.
An initial minor flood warning was also issued for the Georges River at Liverpool and Milperra.
Swathes of northern NSW remain flooded, including the town of Ballina (pictured)
Those in Sydney’s north-west have been warned of potential flooding from the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers, with many sandbagging their homes in preparation
Warragamba Dam was at 99 per cent capacity and began spilling 3am Wednesday.
The predicted spill rate is ‘well below’ experienced 12 months ago.
‘The spill rate will ultimately be determined by the intensity of the rainfall and the inflow generated,’ WaterNSW said.
‘Nonetheless downstream river level increases are likely and will also be influenced by the volume of inflows from tributaries downstream of the dam.’
The State Emergency Service (SES) has also warned residents in inner-city Marrickville of potential flash flooding for a second time within a week.
Several roads have been closed due to overnight rain, including Wakehurst Parkway between Narrabeen and Oxford Falls on the northern beaches and Cambridge Avenue at Glenfield in the city’s south-west.
There are dangerous surf conditions along the the coast with surfers, swimmers, boaters and rock fishermen urged to stay away.
‘River level rises are occurring along the Nepean River at Menangle Bridge where minor flooding is likely Wednesday morning with further rises to the moderate flood level possible Wednesday afternoon,’ the bureau.
The Nepean River could reach its minor flood level of 5.2m on Wednesday morning and reach its moderate flood level of 9.2m within hours.
Hawkesbury River could also experience moderate flooding at North Richmond within hours.
Hawkesbury residents are bracing for similar flood devastation experienced 12 months ago.
‘We are telling people to put in place their flood plan,’ mayor Patrick Conolly told ABC News Breakfast.
‘For a lot of people it means livestock needs to be moved, cleaning out your gutters and sandbagging your houses. A lot of people are doing those things. A lot of that is happening around the place.
‘No-one has been told to evacuate yet but people in low-lying areas know it wouldn’t be unwise to evacuate, if you’ve got somewhere to go’
Thunderstorms with damaging winds and heavy to torrential rain may also lead to flash flooding along the length of the coast from the Hunter down to Bega on the south coast, combined with severe warnings of abnormally high tides and damaging surf.
Sydneysiders have been urged to stay home and not commute to work.
Patients had to be evacuated from Ballina Hospital late on Tuesday night
‘Our number one priority is safety. Motorists should exercise extreme caution and never drive through floodwaters,’ Transport for NSW boss Howard Collins said.
‘We ask our customers to postpone their journey if possible or to allow plenty of additional travel time. We want to ensure everyone arrives at their destination safely.’
There have been no issues so far with Sydney Trains during the morning commute.
‘The system is holding up reasonably well, so people should feel confident to make the journey if they have to,’ transport minister David Elliott told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
Premier Dominic Perrottet urged Sydneysiders making their way into the city to show to ‘show caution.’
‘Obviously we want people to come back to the Sydney CBD but based on the advice from the Bureau (of Meteorology) it’s going to be a difficult week in our city as we see those heavy rains come from the north,’ he said.
‘Ultimately right now we say to people right across our city and our state, look after yourself, follow the advice and stay safe.’
The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts as much as 120mm of rain, which could lead to flash flooding, may fall across these areas over a six hour period early on Wednesday morning.
A total of 200mm of rainfall is possible in Sydney on Wednesday alone, followed by a further 20 to 45mm on Thursday.
Damaging winds of up to 90km/h are also forecast for the NSW coast from Wednesday while damaging surf conditions and abnormally high tides are also on the horizon for areas south of Forster.
The Warragamba Dam is likely to spill over on Wednesday, having reached 99 per cent capacity on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday night 350,000 NSW residents had been given evacuation orders or warnings, with 1,000 having been rescued.
The deluge hammering down on thousands of residents around New South Wales is only expected to get worse for Sydneysiders over the coming days (pictured floods in Cabarita, northern NSW)
Northern NSW has been battered by heavy rainfall, with Sydney, the Hunter and South Coast now expected to cop the brunt (pictured, volunteers handing out supplies in Fingal on Tuesday)
The Ballina Hospital was forced to evacuate its staff and patients to a nearby high school as flood waters rapidly rose higher.
Fifty-five patients from the hospital were moved to the Xavier Catholic College where a makeshift emergency department is being set up for any others needing urgent care.
All patients have been transported with the help of NSW Ambulance and SES crews.
‘The evacuation is taking place on the advice of the local Police Commander and out of an abundance of caution to protect the health and safety of patients and staff,’ Northern NSW Local Health District said.
An almost completely submerged lamp post is seen in Grafton in NSW on Tuesday (pictured)
Ballina Hospital was forced to evacuate its staff and patients to a nearby high school as flood waters rapidly rose higher
Those in low-lying areas in Ballina and Lennox Head were earlier on Tuesday evening told to leave amid worsening weather conditions.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet described the downpour as a ‘one in 1,000-year’ event.
‘The worst could be yet to come… the flood rivers remain a real risk to people’s lives and we will be doing everything we can to get every person, every family, every business back on their feet as quickly as possible,’ Mr Perrottet said.
‘I also want to say as well, we know that at the moment this is focused on the north. But very quickly, as we’re seeing in metropolitan Sydney now, it will move to the south.’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned millions across the length of NSW’s east coast that they needed to prepare.
‘This rather significant weather system, we will continue to see moving down the east coast of Australia. We will see it come into the Central Coast and Sydney,’ he said.
‘We are already experiencing elements of that right now, and particularly over the next 24 hours, we will then see that extend further into the South Coast of New South Wales. And we need to be continuing to be preparing ourselves for the impacts in those regions.’
South-east Queensland is set to be smashed by yet more storms, bringing days of damaging large hail and even more heavy rainfall, with flood warnings for creeks and streams between now and the weekend.
The arrival of the system in Sydney comes just a week after the city was smashed by a severe downpour that turned streets into rivers in the inner-west and saw the Parramatta River break its banks.
Sydney and the NSW coast will now bear the brunt of the latest 48-hour weatherbomb explosion (pictured)
More than 300,000 residents across NSW have been given evacuation order or warnings (pictured in Grafton)
The city has a 80 to 95 per cent chance of rain everyday over the next week until at least Tuesday.
It comes as flooded Lismore reports its first death of the crisis – with an 80-year-old woman found dead inside her home about 10.20am.
Earlier on Tuesday harrowing footage showed residents and horses and trapped on a bridge at Woodburn, south of Lismore, after being stranded overnight.
All were later rescued and brought to safety.
South-east Queensland is set to be smashed by yet more storms, bringing days of damaging large hail and even more heavy rainfall
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet earlier described the downpour as a ‘one in 1000-year’ event and warned Sydney was next in line to cop the brunt of the weather (pictured in Lismore)
A convoy of at least 20 cars and several horses are trapped on a bridge at Woodburn near Lismore in northern NSW
