Damaging winds and surf expected to continue across the entire NSW south coast

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

Transcript

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.