Yet another massive wet weather event has drenched the Illawarra, where persistent heavy rain and squally winds caused widespread flash flooding and damage over the course of the weekend.
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A coastal trough that brought rain to the region on Friday deepened into an east coast low, resulting in torrential downpours, damaging winds and heavy surf that prompted severe weather warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology.
The adverse weather affected a stretch of the NSW coast from the Newcastle area to Batemans Bay, but the Illawarra and Sydney regions bore the brunt of it.
Live updates: Evacuation warning issued for Lake Illawarra
"This is a life-threatening emergency situation," Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said on Sunday morning.
In the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday Brogers Creek, north of Berry, was belted with 368 millimetres of rain - the highest total of anywhere in NSW during that same period.
"They've now seen almost 600 millimetres since Friday, which is Hobart's annual rainfall," Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said on Sunday afternoon.
Darkes Forest recorded 298 millimetres of rain to Sunday morning, Bellambi saw 183 millimetres, Wongawilli copped 197 millimetres, Albion Park recorded 177 millimetres, and Kiama got 110 millimetres.
There was flooding at various locations throughout the region, including Albion Park, Dapto, Bellambi, Woonona and Dunmore.
On Sunday afternoon the SES issued an evacuation warning for residents of Jetty's By The Lake Lifestyle Village, Oaklands Lifestyle Village, South Pacific Park Village, and Oasis Resort and Caravan Park, because high tide and continuing rainfall posed the threat of flooding on Sunday night.
Emergency services again pleaded with people to stay away from floodwaters after SES crews had to undertake 29 rescues in the 24 hours to Sunday morning alone.
Among them was a man in his 30s who had to be retrieved from waters in Otford when he was swept off a causeway he had tried to cross on foot.
Paramedics were called to Lady Carrington Road about 7.15pm to reports a man had left his vehicle to cross the flooded causeway and got washed off into the Hacking River.
SES volunteers, police, NSW RFS firefighters and special operations paramedics were involved in the rescue of the man, who had managed to grab hold of a tree.
It is understood he was about 30 metres down an embankment.
The man complained of feeling cold and pain, and was taken to Wollongong Hospital in a stable condition.
SES Commissioner Carlene York reiterated that people should never enter floodwaters, by vehicle or on foot.
She said the number of rescues SES volunteers had already conducted by that point was "disappointing".
By Sunday night, emergency services had carried out 83 flood rescues in affected areas and Ms Cooke said this showed people were not always heeding the advice of authorities.
The SES received over 1800 requests for assistance - not only for rescues but flood and storm damage, too.
Ms York said the SES had also undertaken a large number of animal rescues in rural areas.
Floodwaters trapped 70 young people at a Tahmoor recreation camp at the weekend, but they managed to get out when the waters receded on Sunday.
The young people, aged between 12 and 23, were isolated at the Bargo River Road camp yesterday morning due to water over the causeway.
The SES had a bus en route to retrieve them, but the water level eventually fell enough for them to drive out.
A trampoline was blown into power lines and about 40 properties were damaged when wild winds hit the Bellambi and Corrimal areas overnight on Saturday and into Sunday.
Fences were blown down and roofing was damaged during the gusty winds, which hit a recorded peak gust of 82 km/h at 5am on Sunday.
Residents of the suburbs also reported being without power for some time.
SES crews were out early yesterday afternoon assessing the damage.
"People with significant roof damage, trees coming down, that sort of thing," the SES acting deputy zone commander for the South East, Sharon Fox, said.
There were murmurings of a tornado having hit the area but the Bureau of Meteorology said it had not received reports of anything that would classify as a tornado, nor had winds gotten strong enough thus far.
However, the private weather service Higgins Storm Chasing said radar and the damage caused supported the likelihood of a tornado.
Meanwhile, Tuggerah Place in Berkeley was left muddied after a landslip brought sodden earth and vegetation sliding down the road.
Council crews were sent to the street to clean up the mess.
The severe weather saw authorities open the State Emergency Operations Centre at Homebush.
By Sunday evening there were dozens of flood evacuation orders in place across the Sydney region and five evacuation centres had opened.
The Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers reached major flood levels on Saturday night and Warragamba Dam spilled at 2am on Sunday, much earlier than authorities had predicted.
Ms Cooke said it was also spilling at a higher rate than the year's previous rain events.
The situation along the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers was escalating, she said, and there was likely to be significant flooding, with the rivers expected to rise higher than the flooding events of last year and this year.
The minister said it was a "rapidly evolving situation" and areas that had never seen flooding before were at risk of being affected.
There were several other flood warnings in place too, including warnings for minor flooding at St Georges Basin and moderate flooding on the Shoalhaven River.
The Shoalhaven River hit three metres at Nowra on Sunday afternoon and the river level at Sussex Inlet was expected to reach minor flood levels in the evening with high tide.
If you need assistance, call the SES on 132 500; if someone is in danger, call triple-0.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
