Soggy Sydney

The Warragamba Dam supplies 80 percent of the water to the Sydney region [AFP]

Some of the heaviest rainfall so far this year has led to yet more flooding in eastern Australia. There has been widespread chaos across Sydney and the coastal areas of New South Wales, with flash flooding leading to closures with delays affecting hundreds of drivers.

Gosford had 197mm of rain in only 48 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sydney recorded 157mm of rain during the same period.

More than 40mm of rain fell in Sydney’s western suburbs in only 6 hours between 9am and 3pm, turning the daily commute to work into an even more painful ordeal.

This comes off the back of what was a cool, wet summer for the region. Sydney had its wettest January since 2001 with the most summer rain days recorded since 1998.

At the end of the summer, Sydney’s water storages were at 87.4% of capacity. This represented an increase of 15% from the end of the previous summer.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood warning for the northwest of Sydney, with news that the Warragamba Dam has started to spill over again. The dam overflowed last month for the first time in 14 years.

The spill is expected to result in a minor peak in the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond bridge late on Friday.

The situation is expected to ease over the weekend as a strong area of high pressure near New Zealand is now starting to weaken the showery activity along Australia’s southeastern coastline. It is unlikely to be completely dry, but any subsequent showers should be lighter than of late and also fewer and further apart.