By Jean Kennedy and Carla Hildebrandt for ABC
Tens of thousands of residents across a swathe of south-western Sydney suburbs have been told to evacuate immediately due to flooding concerns.
A resident fades through water in western Sydney on March 3, 2022, as the area faces its worst flooding after record rainfall caused its largest dam to overflow. Photo: AFP or licensors
The State Emergency Service (SES) has issued evacuation orders for the following locations: Chipping Norton, Georges Hall, Picnic Point, Pleasure Point, Sandy Point and parts of Lansvale, Holsworthy, Milperra, Moorebank and Warwick Farm.
SES spokesperson Sandie Smythe said the situation has developed rapidly, with authorities given no time to issue warnings and moving straight to evacuation orders.
"We've had a mass amount of rain that's fallen in an already saturated and previously flooded catchment so it's been a quick and emerging situation and we have progressed to evacuation orders very quickly," she told the ABC.
"We've had quite a big cell that has dumped a lot of rain in that area and the rivers that are already saturated have come up quite quickly.
"It is a very extensive area all affected by this Georges River system."
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) spokesman Jackson Browne said most of the rainfall in the past 24 hours had been just south of Wollongong, with Mittagong recording 232 millimetres.
He said flash flooding was likely as the grounds were already sodden, with areas already drenched to be on high alert up until midnight.
"We're really in that pressure cooker hours between now and midnight where we could see some very heavy rainfall. It will be particularly intense from mid-afternoon in the south-western suburbs of Sydney and the Illawarra and parts of the south coast," Brown said
The SES has sent people text messages alerting them to the evacuation orders and is also ringing people's landlines, and emergency service crews have also been door-knocking homes in some areas, telling people to leave immediately.
Authorities are urging residents to stay with friends or family or find alternative accommodation outside the flood areas.
Evacuation centres have also been set up at Cabra-Vale Diggers Club in Canley Vale and Club Menai in Menai for those who need it.
It comes after evacuation orders were also issued for parts of Camden, also in Sydney's south-west, with residents in some areas told to leave by 9pm on Monday night and others advised to be out by midnight at the latest.
The SES says if people don't heed the evacuation orders they risk being cut off by rising floodwaters.
"If you remain in the area you may be trapped without power, water and other essential services and it may be too dangerous to rescue you," the evacuation order said.
The latest evacuation orders come as a new east coast low bears down on the state and the weather bureau warned of more heavy rain, flooding and possible landslides for large parts of coastal New South Wales and inland as far as the Blue Mountains.
NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said the state was facing a "very serious" situation on Monday night and into Tuesday, and urged people to prepare and follow the advice of the emergency services.
"It's important if we give you an evacuation warning to ensure that you have all your essentials and important documentation and are able to leave your premises in a safe way," she said.
It's also important if we put out evacuation orders that you actually leave your premises," she said.
BOM spokesman Dean Narramore said rainfalls between 50mm and 150mm and wind gusts of up to 90kph were expected over the next 24 hours.
"We're looking at flooding similar to last week on some parts of the river and in other areas it could be worse than what we saw last weekend," Narramore said.
One Camden resident said the flood was a "one-in-a-million-year" event.
"I've never ever seen it like this."
Picnic Point resident Barry Lewis said he is now ready to evacuate.
"We've been here 19 years and have been through two floods," he said.
"With the weather they're predicting … I think we'll get out."
- ABC