Latest news with #droughtRelief
ABC News
22-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
NSW flooded coastal regions face another day of rain as deluge shifts to Sydney, South Coast
Flood watches and warnings are now current for more than two dozen river systems across eastern New South Wales as a major May deluge tracks down the coast. The heaviest falls today will be concentrated around Sydney in the morning, before shifting to the South Coast later, and could produce a months' worth of rain in just a few hours. But while the coastal regions are facing another day of floods, western NSW is rejoicing after the heaviest rain in months finally brought drought relief. For the fourth consecutive day, Thursday delivered heavy rain to the Mid North Coast, and monthly totals now exceed 650 millimetres at Taree — eight times the average, and the town's wettest May on record with data back to 1882. Port Macquarie has also been drenched by more than 650mm, its highest May total since at least 1871. Just in the past week alone, stretches of the ranges have been inundated by more than 650mm, including Comboyne, Careys Peak and Mt Seaview — and to put the extraordinary figures in perspective, that surpasses what Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Hobart normally receive in an entire year. Relief finally arrived overnight, though, as the low-pressure system responsible for the deluge tracked south towards the Hunter. And while flooding will continue for several days, no further heavy rain will fall over the state's north coast from this event. While the state's north welcomes clearer skies today, new areas of flooding are now developing to the south. Rain increased through Thursday across the southern half of the state, and by 8pm, totals along the Illawarra Escarpment and Hawkesbury River were approaching 100mm. The heaviest rain this morning will impact the central east of NSW, including around the Hunter, Central Coast, Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains, where six hourly totals may reach 60mm to 90mm. This will lead to river rises and flooding along the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and may lead to a minor spill of Warragamba Dam, which on Thursday was sitting on 96 per cent capacity. As the low moves further south this afternoon, rain will ease around Greater Sydney but increase across the South Coast, Snowy Mountains and Gippsland. Higher resolution models are indicating 24-hour totals through Friday may exceed 100mm from the Blue Mountains, through the Illawarra to the South Coast — a month's worth of rain in just one day. The expansion of the soaking has prompted the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to issue a flood watch for all catchments from Sydney to the Towamba River near the Victorian border. The last of the heavy falls will clear off the mainland coast overnight, however, the low is now likely to pass close enough to Tasmania on Saturday to bring moderate falls of up to 30mm on the state's east coast. The good news from this event is it's finally raining over some drought-impacted regions of southern Australia. Coastal lows normally don't produce significant rain west of the ranges, but a separate low above the surface over western NSW has dragged the Tasman Sea moisture well inland. Hillston in the Riverina already picked up 22mm to 9am on Thursday, which was remarkably the town's heaviest fall in six months — an indication of the severity of the rain deficits. Rain continued all day Thursday, and most towns in the Riverina and South Western Slopes received their best falls so far this autumn. By 8pm, Young had welcomed 19mm, and more than 10mm was recorded at Wagga Wagga, Temora, and West Wyalong. Showers will continue today across the NSW southern inland, and totals from this event may even near 50mm on the western slopes and 30mm in the Riverina. This would equate to the best rain in about a year for many areas, and two-day totals may even become the highest in up to two years along parts of the South Western Slopes. A vigorous cold front will bring widespread showers to south-east Australia early next week, while a cloudband spreads widespread rain across Australia's north-west and interior. The system should drop around 20mm along the South Australia and western Victorian coast, however, rainfall will drop off across the adjacent ranges, meaning the Riverlands, Murraylands, Wimmera and Mallee see only a millimetre or two. No other notable rain events are ahead for south-east Australia during the next 10 days, however, the longer-term prospect for winter offers hope of follow-up falls. The BOM's latest seasonal outlook issued yesterday shows an even or slight swing favouring above-median falls for most of the country — although this forecast is partly reliant on a shift in water temperatures across the Indian Ocean.
ABC News
21-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
High hopes New South Wales deluge will bring drought relief to inland farmers
There is high confidence the soaking along the NSW north coast will shift south in coming days and bring drought relief to parts of the Murray Basin. However while inland farmers rejoice, flooding will become more widespread across the Hunter and Mid North Coast as another 48 hours of heavy rain flows into already swollen rivers. And while South Australia and western Victoria will miss out on the initial rainband, a vigorous cold front will bring widespread showers to Australia's southern coastline from Sunday to Tuesday — along with a burst of ferocious winds likely to trigger multiple severe weather warnings. Record May rain has already fallen on several locations in New South Wales, between Port Macquarie and Dungog, this week. For Taree, 279 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday was a May record, and less than 25mm off an all-time record. The rain around Taree was so intense overnight, the Manning River rose upstream as much as 12 metres in just over 12 hours, prompting a major flood warning. The Hastings River was also placed under a major flood warning after Port Macquarie was drenched by 239mm in 24 hours — also a May record, and the city's heaviest rain in any month since 1974. Rain continued to tumble down through Tuesday afternoon across the Upper Hunter and Mid North Coast, also triggering major flood warnings for the Paterson, Williams and Gloucester rivers. Modelling indicates heavy rain will persist all through Wednesday from about Yamba to the Central Coast as an onshore airstream off the Tasman Sea feeds moisture into a near stationary trough. For the waterlogged Mid North Coast and Upper Hunter, totals could again easily exceed 100mm in the next 24 hours. The rainband should then edge slowly south on Thursday with heavy falls extending from the Mid North Coast to possibly Sydney and the Illawarra, but again it is the already flooded regions in the north which are likely to face the most intense downpours — possibly a fourth consecutive day with over 100mm. The rainband will then accelerate south on Friday and bring moderate falls to the South Coast of NSW, while sunshine reappears over the sodden catchments further north. As the deluge continues on the coast today, a new weather system will enter the frame and interrupt the stagnant pattern. A low-pressure system above the surface will drift over the south-east inland, and since winds blow clockwise around a low, its presence is what will drag the coastal rain south over the coming days. Critically, the upper low's position is far enough west to also pull moisture over the ranges, setting up the right conditions for rain over parts of the Murray Basin. The first showers should arrive over the Central West and Riverina later today, before expanding across much of western NSW on Thursday east of about Ivanhoe. Showers should then continue on Friday across southern NSW, while also spreading to central and eastern Victoria. How much rain will fall? This event is quite complex, and has numerous moving parts — hence the sudden upgrade from possible showers to a more solid rain event. In general, between today and Saturday, modelling is indicating falls between about 10mm and 40mm across most of the NSW Central West, Southwest Slopes, and Riverina, along with the North East district of Victoria. For areas fortunate enough to receive totals near the higher end of this range, the event will constitute the long-awaited autumn break and should be the heaviest soaking in at least a few months. However, with nine-month rain deficits in the range of 75mm to 300mm across much of the southern Murray Basin, this one event will require several follow-up falls before drought severity is considered to have eased. Further south, totals over Victoria's Northern Country and Central North regions are likely to display even greater variability ranging from zero to 20mm. The moisture and rain along the eastern seaboard this week will not reach SA or far western Victoria, however a powerful cold front due to arrive on Sunday and Monday offers some hope of relief. The best rain from cold fronts, particularly for inland regions, occurs when they link with a stream of tropical moisture and are preceded by a continental scale cloudband. Unfortunately the much-desired pre-frontal rain will be absent ahead of the front, however the system should be strong enough to deliver moderate falls to the coast and adjacent ranges. For areas of the coast exposed to westerly winds from the bottom of Eyre Peninsula to Wilsons Promontory, at least 20mm should fall — and that includes around Kangaroo Island, Mount Gambier, Warrnambool and Wonthaggi. Totals will then drop off over the ranges and at this stage the Riverlands, Murraylands, Wimmera and Mallee are unlikely to see anything more than a millimetre or two. The front will also lead to at least 48 hours of strong winds, and warnings are likely for damaging gusts over a broad swathe of southern Australia with peak speeds easily exceeding 100 kph in multiple regions.
