Record rain drenches parts of Australia

Flood alerts have been in place over the last few days for parts of New South Wales as a deep area of low pressure developed in the Tasman Sea. At one stage there was some concern that Sydney would be hit by damaging winds and flooding rain, but the worst of the weather has stayed further south.

South Australia also saw some heavy downpours, but the heaviest rain by far fell across northwestern parts of the country, courtesy of another area of low pressure. Karratha, the mining town in Western Australia has recorded more than three times its June daily record rainfall.

A total of 209mm of rain fell here in the middle of what is supposed to be the dry season. That rainfall was eclipsed by Roebourne where 224mm fell, its heaviest rain in 68 years and the second heaviest in over 100 years of records.

A deluge of rain also provided parts of Pilbara with more than 80 per cent of the annual rainfall in just one day, leading to flooding and cutting off roads. Meanwhile, Port Hedland is having its wettest June in more than 70 years with 252mm so far this month.

Heavy rain has also brought localized flooding to parts of the south coast. Nowra saw 150mm of rain in 24 hours. Goulburn notched up 107mm of rain which would have been welcomed over the course of a few days. However, falling in such a short space of time did result in some damage to crops.

There were also strong winds along with the rain into New South Wales. The winds gusted to 100kph in Cabramurra and Batemans Bay had waves peaking around 10 metres at one stage.

More rain is expected as we head towards the weekend, and this time, some of that rain is likely to hit Sydney. The city has just had its coldest three-day spell in 31 years. It will warm up here, but it will also become rather wet and windy at times.