Sydney, March 23, (dpa/GNA) – Thousands more residents on Australia’s eastern coast have been told to be ready to leave their homes Tuesday as flooding continues and authorities warn the situation is likely to deteriorate.
With some 18,000 people in the state of New South Wales already evacuated, another 15,000 residents are on high alert on Tuesday as two “catastrophic” weather fronts roll across large swathes of the state, Australian news wire AAP reported.
Communities north-west of Sydney have been ordered to evacuate amid the unrelenting rain as a massive amount of water flows into catchments, causing rivers to break their banks.
Major flooding is occurring along the Colo River in the Hawkesbury River region. The NSW State Emergency Service ordered about 500 people in 200 homes in the area to start evacuating on Tuesday morning.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued another severe weather warning early Tuesday which projected heavy rain and damaging winds for the eastern coastal regions and some inland regions.
The flooding seen in New South Wales in recent days is the worst in decades.
Communities on the Mid-North Coast face the worst flooding since 1929, while Newcastle, some 140 kilometres north of Sydney, and the Nepean Valley west of the city are experiencing the worst flooding in some 50 years.
GNA