Australia weather: More rain forecast for NSW, Victoria, Queensland with ADF to help amid floods

Torrential rain will ‘wreak havoc’ across Australia’s east coast in the coming week, after days of relentless wet weather and flooding already forced thousands to flee their homes.

The weather front is set to hit the Northern Territory and South Australia first as the low pressure system moves east with the worst of it to batter Queensland, NSW Victoria and Tasmania for several days from Tuesday into Friday. 

Some areas will cop up to 150mm of rain, particularly in flood-ravaged areas of Victoria and Tasmania, while 40mm will be widespread across several states. 

The forecast is another blow to thousands who have already suffered flooding over the past week.

Several flood warnings are active across the states, with thousands in Victoria ordered to evacuate their homes. 

Up north in Queensland, severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for parts of the state on Sunday afternoon, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of high winds, large hailstones and heavy rain. 

Those living in the Central Highlands, the Coalfields and Capricornia forecast districts, in the state’s southeast, were forecast to cop the worst of the miserable conditions. 

More torrential rain will ‘wreak havoc’ across Australia’s east coast in the coming week, after days of relentless wet weather and flooding already forced thousands to flee their homes

An Australian Defence Force Bushmaster navigates floodwaters as Victoria faces an ongoing flood crisis, in Shepparton, Victoria on Sunday

Residents walk through a flooded street in Shepparton, Victoria on Sunday after days of relentless rain

Meteorologists at Weatherzone said ‘what seems to be a never-ending conveyor belt’ of bad weather is expected to ‘wreak havoc’ across the country in the coming days.

On Saturday, a 71-year-old man was found drowned on his property in the northern Victorian town of Rochester, with police unable to reach him. He is the first life lost amid the recent floods in the state.

More rain could also hit the NSW coast as people living in already saturated catchment areas prepare for more water to flow to flood-struck communities.

‘Widespread rain and storms will likely renew and cause more riverine flooding as soil moisture reaches its limits,’ Weatherzone warned. 

A BP in Shepparton is seen inundated with water on Sunday as many residents are forced to flee

It comes as the Australian Defence Force (pictured loading sandbags in Shepparton) were deployed to help those living in flood-ravaged communities

October rainfall records have already been set in parts of inland NSW, including at Broken Hill in the state’s far west.

Rain and thunderstorms developing in South Australia and inland Queensland would bring ‘much more widespread’ rainfall and ‘renewed flooding’ back to the south-east from Wednesday, the BoM said.

The bureau’s senior forecaster Jonathan How earlier told Daily Mail Australia Tasmania, Victoria and NSW would only get ‘a few days of reprieve’.

He said a weather system developing ‘will start to produce showers and thunderstorms across South Australia and inland Queensland from Tuesday and then extend to the rest of the east coast from Wednesday to Saturday.’

‘This will be much more widespread,’ he warned.

SES personnel are seen helping a family leaving their home in Shepparton on Friday

‘So we will see showers all the way from central northern Queensland, down to Tasmania and particularly with this, we will see thunderstorms as well.

‘So expecting widespread falls which could produce renewed flooding for some parts of the south-east and the east.’

Mr How said heaviest rainfall is predicted for south-east Queensland and northern NSW.

He said that region will see between 50 and 100mm of rainfall though further south is still vulnerable to heavy local rainfall likely to come with thunderstorms.

Though waters were receding in Tasmania and parts of NSW – at least temporarily – central Victoria has continuously been battered with heavy rainfall, with it now too late for many in flooded areas to leave.

Emergency crews warned anyone remaining in Shepparton, Orrvale, Mooroopna and Elmore to Rochester, in northern Victoria, to find high ground as flood waters kept rising. 

Flood water is seen from the Loddon River at Bridgewater in Victoria, with the rain set to continue

Victorian State Emergency Service said around 7,300 homes and businesses in the Shepparton area could be affected by the rising waters, with inundation possible in 2,500 of those. 

Disaster recovery payments will be made available to residents in 23 local government areas and a 250-bed camp for displaced people will be opened at the former Covid quarantine facility in Mickleham. 

About 100 ADF personnel are also being deployed to help with evacuations and sandbagging in the worst-hit areas. 

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said some families will not be able to return to their homes for ‘extended periods of time’.

Late on Sunday emergency flood warnings were issued for the Campaspe River from Lake Eppalock to Rochester, and Fairy Dell, Kanyapella South, Koyuga and Nanneella.

The river at Echuca was peaking with major flooding higher than in January 2011, emergency authorities said.

Residents from Lake Eppalock to Barnadown, and Barnadown to Elmore were ordered to leave if safe to do so. 

It was too late for those living between Elmore and Rochester, who were advised to take shelter.

Those in Fairy Dell, Kanyapella South, Koyuga and Nanneella were told to seek higher ground, while residents in Charlton and Echuca were told to leave their homes immediately, with up to 400 properties affected.

Shepparton residents outside their homes on Sunday, which they are now unable to leave due to floodwater

Stephanie Turpin said the water rose fast overnight and her home in Shepparton’s south was surrounded by water but not inundated.

‘We’re fairly high and fairly safe,’ she said on Sunday.

Ms Turpin said police advised residents to leave on Saturday and again early on Sunday but she decided to stay and defend her property.

‘There is no way of leaving now,’ she said.

‘The community is sticking together and helping each other out. People are offering sandbags to other people around the neighbourhood.’

Local residents prepare sandbags at Shepparton Showground amid record-breaking floods

A Shepparton local kayaks down the flooded street after the city was hit by record flooding

She said some of the water was fast-flowing and dozens of homes and cars were flooded.

‘But people are making the most of it. They’ve got canoes and floaties out. It doesn’t happen very often,’ she said.

There were 146 flood rescues in the past 24 hours, with the majority in the Shepparton area, the SES said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese toured flood-affected areas with Mr Andrews, where about 9,000 people are estimated to be affected.

There have been more than 450 rescues in Victoria since the flooding began on Wednesday. 

‘We are working across federal, state and local government to make sure that every support is being provided to these communities that are under such enormous pressure,’ Mr Albanese said.

Hundreds of homes in Rochester were overwhelmed by the flooded Campaspe River, one of dozens of waterways to burst their banks and send northern Victorian towns underwater. Police confirmed a man was found dead in floodwaters in the backyard of his Rochester home

‘Australians are coming together, they are helping each other and once again we are seeing at the worst of times, the best of the Australian character.’

Shepparton was hit by major flooding, with the swollen Goulburn River expected to continue to rise before peaking at 12.2 metres early on Monday.

That would be higher than the 1974 flood level of 12.09m, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Television footage showed buildings in the middle of town surrounded by a vast sea of brown water, and residents using sandbags to stop it.

Mr Andrews said the flooding was unlike other flooding events because high rainfall had left catchment areas sodden and more rain was forecast.

‘These (river) peaks, even once they recede off the high mark, there will still be water in the communities and houses will remain uninhabitable for extended periods of time,’ he said.

Australian Defence Force personnel (pictured) load residents’ cars with sandbags amid floods in Shepparton, Victoria Australia, October 16, 2022

Asphalt highways were no match for the power of floodwaters throughout northern Victoria 

See also  Nick Kyrgios disgusting act leaves girlfriend Costeen Hatzi mortified

Major flood warnings are also in place for the Broken, Avoca and Loddon rivers, and the Seven and Castle creeks.

Echuca is expected to be hit by two flood peaks, one by Tuesday and another later in the week.

More than 350 roads are likely to remain closed in flood-affected areas and about 6,000 properties are without power.

Victorian SES chief Tim Wiebusch issued a specific warning for locals to be on the lookout for ‘blue sky flooding’ where clearing clouds lure people into a false sense of security that the risk is over when floodwaters are still rapidly rising.

Rescue workers (pictured) use an inflatable dinghy to rescue people from floodwaters in Maribyrnong

Swollen rivers across Victoria are expected to bring flooding to the state for up to six weeks. Pictured, Beechworth Woolshed Falls near Wangaratta

‘One of the challenges is we’ve got what we call blue sky flooding,’ Mr Wiebusch told ABC News.

‘The rain has stopped … I think it’s more obvious to people when there’s heavier rain.’

Mr Wiebusch urged people not to drive through floodwaters as rescuers desperately try to reach anyone stranded.

‘That just ties up our emergency services that could be supporting more vulnerable communities that are under pressure with these floods,’ he said.

‘So please turn around, find an alternate way to get there. If you don’t need to be travelling in those northern parts of Victoria, don’t travel at all.’