Australia: Heavy rains continue to lash Sydney, more than 30,000 evacuated

Amid the devastating flood furry in Sydney, thousands of residents in Sydney suburbs were told to evacuate the region at the earliest as the country emergency services cautioned of the more deadly circumstances in the coming days. Calling it the deadliest situation for Sydney in the last 18 months, Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said at least 30,000 residents were advised to evacuate the region as torrential rain would further inundate the region in the coming hours. "The latest information we have is that there’s a very good chance that the flooding will be worse than any of the other three floods that those areas had in the last 18 months," said Watt.

According to Watt, it is expected that the torrential rain may inundate the regions which were unaffected during last year's flood. On Sunday and Monday, emergency services made numerous flood rescues and were getting hundreds more calls for help, he informed. Meanwhile, elaborating on the flood warnings in Australia, Bureau of Meteorology manager Jane Golding said several areas of northern and southern regions, especially Wollongong received more than a meter (39 inches) of rain in the last 24 hours. While some areas even received more than 1.5 meters (59 inches) of rain. Besides, major flooding was also reported in the Hawkesbury region where the water level crossed the mark of 3 feet. The weather man has also predicted floods for Windsor and Lower Portland regions.

 "The system that has been generating this weather does show signs that it will ease tomorrow, but throughout today, expect more rain," Golding said.

'Do not assume you will be safe,' warns an emergency service official

Meanwhile, in a statement released on Sunday, Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke warned the people not to speculate that the flood would not affect them like last year and appealed to the citizens to follow regular updates by the department and weatherman. "If you are feeling uncomfortable or unsure about your circumstances, and there is an opportunity for you to leave earlier, don’t necessarily wait for an evacuation order," Cooke said. "If you were safe in 2021, do not assume you will be safe tonight. This is a rapidly evolving situation and we could see areas impacted that we haven’t seen before," she warned. 

Image: AP