Flash floods have prompted multiple rescues and calls for help as thunderstorms brought hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall to areas across New South Wales stretching to the Queensland and Victorian borders.
Almost 600 NSW State Emergency Service volunteers responded to calls for assistance late on Christmas Eve, including 25 separate flood rescue incidents, the bulk of them in the Sydney and Illawarra areas.
The NSW SES acting assistant commissioner, Allison Flaxman, said most of the rescues involved vehicles trapped in flood water.
“We also had several reports of buildings impacted by the flash flooding, with water leaking through roofs and under doors into garages and car parks,” she said.
“SES members assisted with sandbagging and cleanouts.
“Fortunately there were no reports of significant injuries or major damage from the flood rescues.”
SES volunteers spent Christmas morning continuing to help with clean-up efforts after significant storms ravaged parts of the northern rivers, metropolitan Sydney, Illawarra, south coast and Riverina.
Sydney copped a hammering on Sunday evening, with the suburb of Little Bay in the city’s east recording 56mm of rain in one hour.
The SES was called to 492 incidents on Christmas Eve, 313 of them across metropolitan Sydney.
Heavy rain also set in at Sydney airport on Sunday, causing disruptions to flights, with 15 flights cancelled across domestic and international departures and arrivals as of mid-morning on Monday, according to the airport website.
Guardian Australia understands there are no operational issues at the airport today, and cancellations may be a knock on impact of yesterday’s disruption.
Sunday’s storms were widespread up and down the coast, with hail of up to 10cm in diameter reported in far north NSW near the Queensland border.
Thousands of properties lost power in south-east Queensland after supercells rolled across the state on Sunday afternoon.
Multiple locations in Victoria are experiencing unplanned power outages, according to CitiPower and Powercor’s outage map, with some not expecting restoration until Monday evening.
“Santa is on his way and unfortunately he’s brought the bad weather with him,” Powercor Australia said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday night.
“Winds and lightning have caused damage to our network this evening, bringing down trees and resulting in damage to transformers and other equipment.”
“Our crews are responding to more than 170 faults.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said the wet weather would continue for days, including the threat of more severe thunderstorms.
“The potential is there, in the atmosphere, that we will see … some very large hail, some heavy to intense rainfall, and we could see some damaging wind gusts associated with these big storms as well,” he said.
“There’s a chance of thunder or maybe even severe storms for Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
“All of those capitals [are] seeing a risk of thundery weather on Christmas Day.”
“Even though it is a time for people to relax and celebrate, it is still worth keeping half an eye on the weather forecast, and in particular, the severe thunderstorm warnings,” Hines said. “Especially as we get into the warmer hours of the day.”
“We often see those storms really pick up through the afternoon, and last into the evening,” he said. “So even if the day starts off relatively clear and warm, there is a chance that it could take a dramatic shift.”
Flaxman said crews were prepared for a busy stretch and urged people to take care.
“It is critical people assess the conditions of not only their route but their destination before travelling and avoid camping in low-lying areas,” she said. “If you come across flooded roads, please turn around and find an alternative route. Never drive through flood waters.”
She said flood rescue teams have been positioned and prepared for the coming days.
The bureau has issued a flood watch for parts of the south coast through to the upper Murrumbidgee.
“Heavy rainfall, more intense with thunderstorms, is forecast with a low pressure system expected to move through southern NSW,” the flood alert read.
