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ABC reporter, Romy Gilbert is on the New South Wales South Coast and says the storm peaked overnight with up to 200mm of rain.

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00:00I'm here in Bury, as you mentioned, in the south coast of Shoalhaven, it's the northern
00:07part of the Shoalhaven, and here in Bury it's, I mean, a low-lying area, so while it
00:12does look quite dramatic, it is, this area often floods with deluge of rain, so we've
00:17had over 200 mils of rain here in this part of the Shoalhaven overnight, and so you can
00:24see just the sheer amount of water that that has collected here, but it's not a concern
00:29as much as a concern here in the rural fields, because there are higher grounds, but it's
00:36in the southern part of the Shoalhaven where similar amounts of rain, around 200 mils, has
00:41hit in those more residential streets, inundating homes, so as I mentioned, the storm really
00:48peaked overnight, we kind of expected that with, you know, up to 200 mils of rain in Ulladulla
00:56and Burrill Lake area, which is where those sort of emergency warnings are really placed
01:01at the moment, also in Sanctuary Point, where, you know, just heavy rainfall has seen flash
01:07flooding in areas that are connected to the sea, so the inland there in St George's Basin
01:14and Burrill Lake, the tidal influences there, also raising water, really inundating homes,
01:20so I'm yet to make my way down to that part of the coast, but after I chat with you, I
01:25will, and we know we'll be speaking with residents whose homes are full of water yet again, but
01:31as you just heard from the State Emergency Service there, these communities that are so
01:35resilient, it's not their first time, and, you know, dare I say, it's the last, they really
01:40have been so well prepared.
01:42We've heard from emergency services firsthand that when they arrived in these communities
01:47that are low-lying and have experienced this flooding, that they were helping each other,
01:54really getting amongst it and being prepared, you know, before the worst of it sort of happened
02:01overnight, so yesterday afternoon, moving cars to higher ground, and while we have woken this
02:06morning to the impacts of the water, the rain is sort of eased and potentially the worst
02:14of it last night as well, the wind was a huge concern. I know where I am right now in Bury,
02:21they're just up to 100 kilometres an hour, really roaring throughout the night, and likewise
02:27for much of the Illawarra South Coast region, residents waking to trees on roads and thousands
02:33of it sort of falls to the SES. Yeah, we're watching that road behind you and people driving through,
02:39and you heard, Romy, Dallas Burns from the SES saying it's really disappointing when they have
02:44to do rescues from cars. Is the road network down there operating okay?
02:50It is operating. We're really, you know, as the sun came up, relying on those sort of people
02:57sort of heading out. I mean, while the message is to, if you don't have to go out, please don't.
03:02For those that have had to venture out, they've been reporting on social media where trees are down.
03:08You know, for me personally, there was a tree down on my road early this morning,
03:12and, you know, within a couple of hours, it was cut up and moved off. So there are some
03:16incredible vigilantes and locals out, certainly to be done for it. But the message to everyone is,
03:23you know, of course, if you don't need to drive, please don't. And if you do, check live traffic
03:28to get an understanding of what roads are open and what roads are closed. That is especially
03:33important when it comes to flooding as well. Don't drive through floodwaters. Take a different route.
03:39The South Coast Road Network is absolutely impacted by this. Water is being reported. We've got countless
03:46roads. So, yeah, it's really just up to people to, you know, use their initiative and check live
03:52traffic if you do need to take to the roads today.

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