Flooding, storms and intense wind: dangerous weather forecast for NSW coast

Australian Community Media

The NSW SES and the Bureau of Meteorology provide an update on the vigorous coastal low-pressure system forecast to begin on June 30, which will bring damaging winds, persistent rain, large and powerful waves, coastal erosion, and storms for the NSW coast. x

Transcript

00:00The Bureau of Meteorology and the State Emergency Service have been monitoring a complex and dynamic

00:05system off the east coast of New South Wales since about Thursday last week. This particular

00:12low is now going to start to impact coastal areas of New South Wales from tonight, from the areas

00:20between Coffs Harbour in the north and Bega in the south. It is likely that this system will bring

00:28significant weather to these coastal fringe areas. This weather will include damaging surf,

00:37coastal erosion, significant moderate to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms along with damaging

00:44winds. As I said this is a very dynamic and fast moving system, very different to the systems that

00:52we have seen in recent times. We do expect that the rainfall and winds will ease from Thursday this

01:00week. Shortly I'll hand you to Steve Boscone from the Bureau of Meteorology who will give you a more

01:07detailed weather briefing. But I'd like to take a moment now to let you in the community know what

01:13we are doing as an SES and what you can do to prepare for this significant weather event.

01:19As we've mentioned we have been monitoring this system since Thursday of last week and so our

01:25State Emergency Services including our partner agency are all very well prepared and planned for

01:32this event. We have deployed high clearance vehicles, aerial assets and personnel into the areas which we

01:40think will be most impacted by this forecasted weather. The high clearance vehicles that we have deployed

01:48are deployed to the towns of Kiama, Albury, Hawkesbury, Maitland, Dung Dog and Taree.

01:56We have deployed helicopter assets to Albion Park, Taree and Cessnock and we have further helicopters

02:06ready on standby should they be required in the south coast and also the Sydney metropolitan area.

02:13We have already pre-positioned 395 of our amazing volunteers on the ground throughout our northern

02:22metro and southern region areas. This is on top of the incident management teams that we have already

02:29established right along the coast of New South Wales. Can I please take a moment to offer a huge

02:37thank you to all of our amazing volunteers who give up their own personal time and at times risk their

02:44own lives to ensure the communities in New South Wales are protected. They are absolutely amazing and

02:51incredible with the work that they do. I also want to thank the employers of these volunteers. They have

02:59also been amazing and their commitment to our volunteers has ensured that the communities across New South Wales

03:05are kept safe. We will continue to monitor this system with the Bureau of Meteorology and we will provide

03:13you with warnings as they become available. We are prepared here at the State Emergency Service and also

03:22all of our emergency services partners but what we need is for you to be prepared. You out there in the

03:29community need to start preparing for this weather event. We are encouraging all residents in these coastal

03:37fringe areas to please stay informed and of course you can do that either on the Bureau of Meteorology

03:43website or the New South Wales State Emergency Service website. Importantly can I ask you to download the

03:50Hazards Near Me app and please use the system so that you only collect information and warnings from your

03:58particular watch zone. So that is where you live, where you're likely to be traveling to, potentially where

04:04you work. So that should be what you set as your watch zone and continue to monitor that and communicate

04:11that with your family, friends and neighbors so that we can keep your whole community safe. We are encouraging

04:19also for communities to start preparing their homes. As we always say it's really critical that you clean your

04:28gutters, that you move items that are loose that can be blown around such as trampolines and outdoor furniture,

04:36tie them down or move them to a secure location. Can you also please move any vehicles that you have away

04:44from any large trees. It's important that you remain vigilant during this time, it's also very important

04:51that you communicate with family, friends and neighbors to ensure that we can keep you all safe and that

04:58you will keep each other safe. As always, if you need the New South Wales State Emergency Service you can

05:05call us on 132500 but if it is a life endangering situation please call 000. I'll now hand over to Steve from

05:14the Bureau of Meteorology to give you a more detailed briefing of this weather system. Thanks Steve.

05:22Thanks Deputy Commissioner Platts. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to

05:26present information about this severe weather event and there is a, it is severe in the form of

05:33preparing for it. So we have a rapidly developing coastal low that's forecast to develop offshore of the

05:39north coast tonight and it's looking like it'll bring damaging winds, heavy rain and hazardous coastal

05:46conditions from Tuesday through to Wednesday with conditions easing through to Thursday.

05:52Damaging winds are expected to impact coastal areas, the eastern slopes and higher terrain from

05:58Tuesday morning with the most intense conditions likely to be Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday.

06:03Widespread rainfall totals of 50 millimetres to 120 millimetres are likely but there is still a chance

06:11of isolated 150 to 200 millimetre rainfall events. The heaviest falls are expected from the Hunter

06:19to the Illawarra Tuesday and Wednesday. Now this system will track slowly southward along the New South

06:25Wales coast during Tuesday and it'll bring widespread impacts. The position though and the strength of the

06:33low will determine the duration and the severity of the impacts which may persist into Thursday.

06:41A coastal hazard warning is also in effect for dangerous surf and erosion risks. Communities from

06:47Coffs Harbour down to Batemans Bay and including Tenterfield for wind should prepare for severe weather

06:54impacts and monitor official warnings. I'd like to take a moment just to run through some of the current

06:59weather conditions and also the warnings that are in place as well as elaborate a little bit more on

07:05each of the hazards. Now this coastal trough is deepening off the north coast. It's expected to

07:11evolve into multiple low pressure systems off the coast tonight. Now one of these low pressure systems

07:19will start to dominate and that will actually become then a vigorous coastal low near the coast around the

07:25central parts of the whole state's coastline. Now it is a complex system and it is dynamic. Complex in that

07:31it is multiple low pressure systems combining and interacting with each other and dynamic in that

07:37the pressure may drop quite quickly and turn into a more significant coastal low system.

07:45The system will move southward during Tuesday before beginning to move out into the Tasman Sea on

07:49Wednesday with conditions easing on Thursday. Now we have a number of warnings in place at the moment.

07:55I'll run through the most prominent ones. There is a severe weather warning for this whole vigorous

07:59low pressure system. There is a marine wind warning today for strong winds for the Byron, Coffs and

08:05Macquarie coast. But for tomorrow that severe that marine wind warning for to Tuesday will move towards

08:13gale force winds for the Macquarie, the Hunter, the Sydney coast including enclosed waters, Illawarra and

08:19Batemans Bay. There is a hazardous surf warning right now for the Port Macquarie to Batemans Bay area

08:27and including in that or additional to that is a coastal hazards warning for damaging surf.

08:33The difference being hazardous surf is dangerous to people and hazardous or damaging surf is dangerous to

08:40people and property. Now for the damaging surf for Tuesday the particular areas are from Seal Rocks

08:46to Batemans Bay with the focus areas on Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong and Batemans Bay. In addition to

08:54this with the rainfall forecast we have a flood watch current and it's for the southern parts of the

09:00Mid-North Coast for the Hunter, the Hawksmarine Appian, the Sydney, the Illawarra Coast and also the

09:08Snowy River catchment. Minor flooding is possible from Tuesday due to moderate to heavy rainfall.

09:15The affected areas include in the north the Wallace Lake near Tauri and far south to the St George Basin

09:24in the Illawarra and again including the Snowy River. Communities for these areas should prepare,

09:31pay heed to the Bureau's warnings but also warnings from the State Emergency Services relating to

09:36flood conditions. Now specifically for the hazards of wind, rain, flood and seas, I'll touch on each of

09:46those with a little bit of detail. The forecast for wind during this event is for damaging gusts,

09:52damaging being greater than 90 kilometres an hour, are likely along the coastal fringe and exposed

09:56ranges. We are looking at sustained winds of 40 to 70 kilometres an hour with the gusts of 80 to 110

10:04kilometres an hour possible. There is also an outside chance of destructive gusts of over 125

10:12kilometres an hour. From a rainfall perspective we're looking at widespread totals of 50 to 120

10:19millimetres with isolated 150 to 200 millimetres of rainfall. Heaviest falls are between that Hunter

10:27to Illawarra region. There is a risk of flash flooding due to short duration heavy rain. From a

10:36thunderstorms perspective there are thunderstorms possible along the coastal fringe on the southern

10:40flank of the low. They may bring heavy rain and of course damaging winds and even water spouts.

10:46A severe thunderstorm warning may be issued as these things start to appear. I've mentioned the flooding

10:53as far as minor flooding is forecast so keep an eye on the flood watch that may turn into a flood warning.

10:59And for the surf, large and powerful surf conditions are forecast from the south to a

11:03south-easterly swell. Wave height of five to seven metres are expected between Foster in the north to

11:09Batemans Bay in the south. Now to summarise all of this over the next four days to capture it all,

11:15today we're looking at showers increasing in the north of the state on the eastern districts north of

11:20Sydney. For Tuesday we're looking at the system deepening and becoming more of a defined low

11:26pressure system with heavy rain, strong winds and hazardous surf beginning. For Wednesday the peak

11:34day for impacts, we're looking at those damaging winds, potential for flash flooding and coastal erosion.

11:39And then as we move into Thursday, rain will ease, the winds and the surf days still remain a hazard

11:46and on Friday conditions are expected to improve with surf easing later in Friday and into the weekend.

11:52Ladies and gentlemen, this is a severe weather warning, a severe weather announcement for a deepening

11:58coastal low pressure system that will affect a large portion of the New South Wales coastline.

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