UPDATE:
New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has addressed the state, as it braces against the massive weather event moving down Australia’s East coast.
Towns across New South Wales are now experiencing torrential downpours, as concerns grow for how Sydney will far.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports “The SES fears properties in the low-lying areas of Ballina, North Ballina, West Ballina and areas south of Ballina towards Wardell will become inundated.”
“These areas were on evacuation warning around 2am – that direction changed to “evacuate now” about 6am.”
Residents who have not yet evacuated from Ballina have been told it is too late to leave, as it is too unsafe to be evacuated, and they must weather this disaster at home, in the highest possible safe location.
More to come as the story develops.
EARLIER:
Published under the headline “IMAGES: Colossal devastation of Australia’s East coast weather emergency”
Australians have an intimate knowledge of natural disasters. The past two years have thrown the full spectrum of natural disasters at Aussies, with the latest being a colossal flood, spanning the Eastern most part of Australia’s coastline. It can be difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of the flooding if you aren’t there. Starts At 60 has compiled the most revealing posts from those on the ground to showcase the pure devastation and ferocity of the water across this weather event.
The top of the disaster zone is waterlogged Gympie, with the water making its way north along the mighty Mary River, to devastate Maryborough; flooding the heritage town for the second time in six weeks.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has, on February 28, updated Queenslanders on the flooding across the state, as it enters New South Wales.
Maryborough is on the receiving end of the devastation Gympie has been experiencing for the past week. The Fraser Coast Council Mayor, George Seymour, has been providing regular updates for locals to his Facebook page:
Across the Maryborough region, the city looks much the same.
Some incredible images have been captured of Gympie, and the overwhelming devastation of the floodwater.
The Noosa Council shared a reel showing the massive community effort that has gone into helping residents impacted by the rain bombs, as named by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Brisbane has copped a beating so far during this weather event, with tens of thousands of properties impacted, and the river becoming a highway of debris. Brisbane has experienced over 600mm of rain since Thursday, February 25. In addition to this enormous deluge, Wivenhoe Dam has been making timed flood releases to counteract the amount of water that has entered the dam due to this weather event. As at 8am AEST on Monday, February 28, Wivenhoe Dam, was at 182.9 per cent capacity, and was utilising its flood storage compartment. The updated capacity of Wivenhoe Dam can be found here.
Toowoomba, Grantham and the surrounding Lockyer Valley also copped a battering, with local residents sharing pictures and videos.
As the intense storm cell that has caused this catastrophic destruction moves South, the Gold Coast and Northern New South Wales is being impacted severely.
As the storms and intense rainfall move down the coast, Northern New South Wales is feeling the full brunt of the weather system.
Residents in tweed awoke to a very different situation than what they went to bed knowing – with more than a foot of water, sometimes two, falling in various regions across the shire in just 24 hours.
Perhaps the most confronting scenes on Monday morning were those of residents trapped on their roofs in torrential rain, waiting, and hoping that help was on the way, but with no knowledge of if it was.
If you, or someone you know is trapped, or in a flood or weather event affected area and needs assistance, please call the State Emergency Service (SES) on 132 500. If your situation is life-threatening, please call Triple Zero, 000.
Stay safe.