Latest news with #JordanHalloran
ABC News
21-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Further rain to worsen NSW flood emergency
Andy Park: A massive dump of rain in the Manning River on the New South Wales mid north coast has created a major flood emergency with dozens of residents trapped in their homes, businesses inundated and farmland swallowed up by the rising waters. Those living around Taree are worst affected but with further heavy falls expected, emergency workers are bracing for worse to come. Nick Grimm reports. Nick Grimm: Heavy rain keeps on falling and there's nowhere for it to go. When a break in the deluge does come, Taree locals like Fred are getting out to survey the damage. Fred the Butcher: It's just devastating, it really is. You can hear a lot of cattle mooing away. I think there is some high ground further up. So yeah, it's one of the worst floods we have ever witnessed here at Taree. So as you can see, there's a really, really nice land cruiser underwater there and a few tractors. Nick Grimm: And at nearby Glenthorne, residents like Jordan Halloran can do little but watch the rising waters as they remain stranded in their homes. Jordan Halloran: The main concern is our two year old son who is here with us and two dogs but even more of a priority is our neighbour's house which is about to be inundated with water. I'll just show you but we're awaiting a rescue and we've been waiting since about 1am. They said the only way to get us out at the moment is with a chopper and there aren't any. Nick Grimm: Emergency workers have carried out more than 150 rescues in the past 24 hours. This morning dozens more reported to be stuck on roofs or anywhere they can stay out of the water. A six week old baby, part of a family of six, rescued by Jason Harvey from the NSW Volunteer Rescue Association. Jason Harvey: They thought they could ride it out and obviously floodwaters did rise quite significantly from the Manning River. They did have a veranda on the second story and the water was significantly up so we were able to just get them into the boat. Nick Grimm: Complicating the effort, the fast moving waters and debris making it too dangerous to conduct rescue operations at night. Fred the Butcher: Oh there's somebody's fridge. Nick Grimm: Jason Harvey again. Jason Harvey: You've obviously got household goods, you've got things like logs, trees, fridges, seen plenty of fridges. Went for a paddle last night to a property and had to paddle past a number of fridges. That makes it quite dangerous for rescue operators. Nick Grimm: Flood levels on the Manning River are now in excess of the old record set almost a century ago in 1929. Nicky Thornton: My parents are on the river and they've never seen it come up near their house and they were moving furniture at three o'clock in the morning so that's never, never happened. Nick Grimm: NikkyThornton owns an insurance broking firm in Taree. She spent yesterday sandbagging her business only to watch her riverside office flood in the early hours of this morning. Nicky Thornton: We're a small town. Everyone's affected. All the other businesses who are our clients as well are friends and there's stock that's been damaged. People thought they'd probably moved it high enough. We went off the last flood. So there's going to be a big clean up and yeah it's just a bit disheartening to keep going through this again and again. Nick Grimm: And the worst isn't over yet. The Bureau of Meteorology Senior Forecaster Dean Narramore says still more rain is on its way for another two days at least. Dean Narramore: Yeah look huge numbers. If you look at, we saw widespread one to two hundred millimetres yesterday. Those same places have seen another one to two hundred millimetres since nine o'clock yesterday to today. So we're looking at two day totals in many areas of two, three, four hundred millimetres. Some locations even up to five hundred millimetres in the last forty eight hours. And that's what's leading to this widespread flash and riverine flooding. And unfortunately we probably still have another one hundred to two hundred millimetres to come in the next twenty four to forty eight hours in that same area from around Taree all the way up through around the Coffs Harbour area with isolated falls up to two hundred and fifty to three hundred millimetres possible. James McRae: Oh what a night. We had another 70 mil rain overnight on top of 200 yesterday which was already on top of saturated soil. So we're seeing a huge amount of runoff. Rivers are all broken banks and yeah just just devastating results really. Sort of drowned pastures, cows with sore feet. Nick Grimm: That's James McRae a dairy farmer at Barrington on the Manning River's upper catchment area. And while he expects a tough 18 months ahead recovering from flood damage, it'll be even worse for his fellow primary producers further downstream in low-lying areas. James McRae: Further down the catchment it's another story. It's complete devastation down there. We're hearing from some dairies that have lost calves already. They've got half a metre of water over their whole farm already. Yeah all these waters that's running off the upper part of the catchment here is just these funnelling down to that Manning and it's just it's just horrific what's happening. Nick Grimm: Mid North Coast Mayor Claire Pontin is calling for additional assistance for her area with a massive recovery operation needed once the immediate emergency has passed. Claire Pontin: We're still in the process of rescuing people and dealing with the flood but next week that water will be down and we will just have an enormous clean-up to do and we'll have an awful lot of people who can't move back into their houses. Andy Park: New South Wales Mid North Coast Council Mayor Claire Pontin ending that report from Nick Grimm and Stephanie Smail.
Straits Times
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Straits Times
Flash floods cut off inland Australian towns, residents flee to rooftops
SYDNEY - Heavy rain in Australia's southeast triggered flash flooding and cut off entire towns on May 21, stranding some residents on the roofs of their homes, as authorities issued snap evacuation orders with rivers staying above danger levels. Rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, were the worst hit from the downpour, with some areas receiving more than four months worth of rain over the past 24 hours. 'We have seen an enormous amount of rainfall,' New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib told reporters. 'We've got a situation here where the rain really has been falling quite heavily and quite hard, and it hasn't been moving away. Part of that is because the ground is saturated and another part is also because the rivers are swollen.' In its latest update, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said some areas could receive up to 300mm of rain over the next 24 hours, three times the mean total for May. Images shared on social media showed some residents sitting inside their homes ankle-deep in water waiting for rescue crews. In the towns of Taree and Glenthorne, which sit along the Manning River more than 300km north of Sydney, some residents were trapped on verandas and roofs with emergency crews struggling overnight to access the area by boat or air, authorities said. 'We didn't expect this amount of water,' Glenthorne resident Jordan Halloran told ABC News. 'Our neighbours will have to go onto the roof next and if we're not rescued, I would say we will have to make our way to the roof as well.' New South Emergency Services Commissioner Mike Wassing said emergency crews were giving top priority to rescuing vulnerable people and those who could not leave their homes. 'The current focus (will be on) people that are actually on roofs or in other cases might be on the second story of their home,' Wassing said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
ABC News
21-05-2025
- ABC News
Glenthorne residents waiting to be rescued from floodwaters
Jordan Halloran is with her family in their home waiting to be rescued by the SES. She spoke to ABC News Breakfast from Glenthorne on the NSW mid north coast.
Malay Mail
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Malay Mail
Flash floods cut off inland Australian towns, residents flee to rooftops
SYDNEY, May 21 — Heavy rain in Australia's south-east triggered flash flooding and cut off entire towns today, stranding some residents on the roofs of their homes, as authorities issued snap evacuation orders with rivers staying above danger levels. Rural towns in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, were the worst hit from the downpour, with some areas receiving more than four months' worth of rain over the past 24 hours. 'We have seen an enormous amount of rainfall,' New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib told reporters. 'We've got a situation here where the rain really has been falling quite heavily and quite hard, and it hasn't been moving away. Part of that is because the ground is saturated and another part is also because the rivers are swollen.' In its latest update, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said some areas could receive up to 300mm of rain over the next 24 hours, three times the mean total for May. Images shared on social media showed some residents sitting inside their homes ankle-deep in water waiting for rescue crews. In the towns of Taree and Glenthorne, which sit along the Manning River more than 300km north of Sydney, some residents were trapped on verandas and roofs with emergency crews struggling overnight to access the area by boat or air, authorities said. 'We didn't expect this amount of water,' Glenthorne resident Jordan Halloran told ABC News. 'Our neighbours will have to go onto the roof next and if we're not rescued, I would say we will have to make our way to the roof as well.' New South Emergency Services Commissioner Mike Wassing said emergency crews were giving top priority to rescuing vulnerable people and those who could not leave their homes. 'The current focus (will be on) people that are actually on roofs or in other cases might be on the second story of their home,' Wassing said. — Reuters
News.com.au
21-05-2025
- Climate
- News.com.au
Cars, homes submerged by floodwaters on Mid-North Coast
A Glenthorne man has shared terrifying footage of floodwaters lapping at the second floor of his home while he awaits rescue with his wife and two-year-old son. Sam Halloran posted a video to Facebook on Wednesday morning shot from his balcony, showing cars and neighbouring homes submerged by floodwaters in the NSW Mid-North Coast town of Glenthorne, just south of Taree, where the Manning River is exceeding levels never seen before. 'Is there anyone with a boat that can launch at south taree somewhere and come and get my wife and little boy in glenthorne before our top floor goes under? Been waiting on ses for 6.6 hours,' he wrote in a Facebook post early on Wednesday morning. Mr Halloran was waiting to be rescued with his wife Jordan, who earlier spoke to the ABC about their desperate situation. 'I think it's about probably 600(mm) off coming into the top level of our house,' she said. 'But the main concern is our two-year-old son, who is here with us and two dogs. 'Even more of a priority is our neighbour's house, which is about to be inundated with water. 'We're awaiting a rescue. We've been waiting since about 1am. 'They said the only way to get us out at the moment is with a chopper and there aren't any.' But about 9.30am, Mr Halloran posted an image to Facebook of a helicopter with the words 'Thanks everyone!' Speaking with the ABC, Ms Halloran said she 'didn't expect this amount of water'. 'In the 2021 floods, there may have been maybe a foot of water through the bottom storey of this house,' she said. 'Don't assume that things will be OK and as they were before. 'The weather's very unpredictable.' Earlier on Wednesday morning, SES shared that the Manning River had surpassed the 1929 record of 6m and was still rising. 'Residents in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne may be isolated by floodwaters for several hours,' the alert said. 'In some locations people have been urged to move to higher ground, as rising floodwater and treacherous conditions are making rescues difficult to undertake.' Over the past 24 hours, NSW SES have responded to 892 incidents, including 130 flood rescues. The majority of these rescues have occurred in the Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne areas. NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone said emergency service partners and the SES were 'deploying every available asset' to rescue people as quickly as possible. 'Through the night, teams have undertaken a significant number of rescues at Taree, Port Macquarie and Ghini Ghini,' he said. 'This is a dynamic situation where a number of evacuation warnings were issued through Tuesday and overnight, with residents door knocked as well. 'Unfortunately, we've also had a large number of calls for help in areas that were subject to evacuation warnings and we are still assessing how best to access those locations. 'We've advised those people needing assistance to move to higher ground, as we're unable to currently access by boat, road or air due to the current weather conditions.' Severe weather is expected to continue throughout Wednesday.
