An initial Flood Watch for NSW Central, Southern Coastal Rivers, Macquarie and Queanbeyan Rivers has been issued this afternoon as there is expected to be an extremely large weather event over the east coast of Australia over the next three to four days.
This flood watch means that anyone living or working along the rivers and streams must monitor weather forecasts and warnings and be ready to move to higher ground should floods develop and if heavy rainfall persists severe weather warnings will be issued.
Current NSW warnings can be found here.
Between now and Saturday the weather bureau is forecasting in excess of 130 millimetres of rain which could cause minor to moderate flooding for NSW central and Southern coastal rivers, inclusive of greater Sydney. In the Nepean-Hawksbury catchment rainfall totals could reach up to 200mm. If this eventuates this will result in moderate to major flooding along the Nepean-Hawksbury for the fourth time in an eight-week period.
Current Sydney forecast can be found here.
Lismore which has experienced their worst flooding in history in February followed by renewed flooding in March is also looking at over 100 millimetres of rain between now and Saturday
Current Lismore forecast can be found here.
If the last weather event on the east coast is anything to go by then it is more than likely there will be severe flooding in parts of NSW and potentially even QLD.
Current QLD warnings can be found here.
The forecasted rainfall is being fueled on by a cyclone that is forming off the Northeast coast of QLD near Vanuatu, which is then tracking south along the east coast of the country.
This comes late in the season as the annual cyclone season in Australia usually lasts from November to April.
