RICHMOND, Australia (AP) – Hundreds of homes have been flooded in and around Australia’s largest city in a flood emergency that was causing problems for 50,000 people, officials said on Tuesday.
Emergency response teams conducted 100 overnight rescues of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or flooded homes in the Sydney area, said State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan.
The days of torrential rains have caused the dams to overflow and the waterways to be broken, causing a fourth flood emergency in 16 months in parts of the city of 5 million people.
Evacuation orders and warnings to prepare to leave homes were given to 50,000 people, up from 32,000 on Monday, New South Wales Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet said.
“This event is far from over. Please don’t be complacent, wherever you are. Please be careful when driving on our roads. There is still a substantial risk of sudden flooding across our state, ”Perrottet said.
The New South Wales state government declared a disaster on 23 areas of local government overnight, activating federal government financial aid for flood victims.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke credited the ability and commitment of rescue teams to prevent any death or serious injury on the fourth day of the flood emergency.
Parts of southern Sydney had been hit by more than 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) of rain in 24 hours, more than 17% of the city’s annual average, Meteorological Office meteorologist Jonathan How said.
Heavy rain warnings were maintained on Tuesday in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. The warnings also extended north of Sydney along the coast and into the Hunter Valley.
The worst flooding was along the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system along the northern and western strips of Sydney.
“The good news is that tomorrow afternoon, it looks like it will be mostly dry, but of course we are reminding people that these waters will stay very high after the rain has stopped,” How said.
“There was a lot of rain during the night and that’s seeing some rivers grow for the second time. So you have to take many days, if not a week, to start seeing how that water starts to recede,” How added.
Residents of Lansvale, south-west Sydney, were shocked by the speed with which their area was flooded and the increasing frequency of these floods.
“Well, it happened in 1986 and 88, then it didn’t happen for 28 years and therefore 2016 and 2020 and now it’s happened four times this year,” a Lansvale local said just as Terry told Australian Television Broadcasting Corp. of his flooded house.
Wild weather and mountainous seas along the coast of New South Wales thwarted plans to tow an affected cargo ship with 21 crew members to the safety of the open sea.
The ship lost power after leaving Wollongong Harbor, south of Sydney, on Monday morning and ran the risk of being stranded by 8-meter (26-foot) waves and winds blowing at 30 knots (34 mph) against cliffs.
An attempt to tow the ship with tugs into the open ocean ended when a tow line broke with an 11-meter (36-foot) swell Monday afternoon, the Port Authority executive director said. Philip Holliday.
The ship maintained its position on Tuesday farther from shore than Monday with two anchors and the help of two tugs. The original plan had been for the ship’s crew to repair its engine at sea. The new plan was to tow the boat to Sydney when weather and sea conditions calmed down as early as Wednesday, Holliday said.
“We’re in a better position than yesterday,” Holliday said. “We are in relative safety.”
Perrottet on Monday described the tugboat crew’s response to saving the ship as “heroic.”
“I want to thank those men and women who were last night for the heroic work they did in incredibly treacherous conditions. To have a wave of 11 meters (36 feet), to be subjected to this work and to carry it out is incredibly impressive, ”Perrottet said.
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McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia.