Wave of storms pounding NSW declared natural disaster, unlocks relief payments
The recent wave of storms and heavy rainfall pounding the New South Wales Mid North Coast has been declared a natural disaster, with the state government activating its Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) to support those affected.
Since Wednesday, the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) has responded to more than 7,500 incidents, 4,110 of those concentrated in the Greater Sydney area due to fallen trees, damaged property and cars.
The hardest hit in 2,285 incidents have been from the areas of Medford, Lakewood, Port Stephens, the Central Coast and the Hunter.
NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing said they were still getting about 150 calls for assistance per hour. And, in the Buladelha area, they carried out four rescues due to flash flooding.
NSW State Emergency Crews clean up in the Newcastle region after the severe storms that caused havoc across the state. (Supplied: NSW SES)
The weather event has caused one fatality after an 80-year-old man died in Cowra when a tree fell on his car, and a number of people have been injured.
At the height of the storm, 260,000 homes and businesses lost power. That number had fallen to about 40,000 by Saturday.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds and rainfall for the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, South West Slopes and Snowy Mountains was cancelled at 1:15pm by the Bureau Of Meteorology (BOM).
The Bureau Of Meteorology cancelled the severe weather warning but flood alerts for the Mid North Coast remain active. (ABC News)
However, the flood risk for the Mid North Coast remains active.
On Saturday, the NSW government confirmed it would activate the DRFA, which is funded by both the state and the Commonwealth, to support communities in Port Stephens, Maitland and Snowy Valleys affected by the storms.
"The assistance activated today will ensure communities can access essential supplies, help restore what's been lost, and repair what's been damaged," Commonwealth Minister for Emergency Management Jenny McAllister said.
At the height of the storm, 260,000 homes and businesses lost power. (Facebook: Ausgrid)
Minister for Emergency Management Jenny McAllister welcomed the support, saying the relief payment was an important first step in the community's recovery.
"There will be grants for low income, uninsured people who need to replace essential household items," she said.
"There will be support to councils for clean up, there'll be concessional loans under some circumstances for small businesses and freight subsidies for livestock."
The area between Coffs Harbour and Newcastle has received 50 to 150 millimetres of rain.
According to the BOM 50 to 150 millimetres of rain has been recorded in the area between Coffs Harbour and Newcastle, with isolated falls of up to 250 millimetres around the Barrington Tops.
The rainfall resulted in an Amber Alert being placed on Chichester Dam overnight, located 80 kilometres north of Newcastle, leading to evacuation advice for the Ferndale Caravan Park at 1am this morning.
The NSW SES said it had responded to almost 7,000 incidents across the state since Wednesday. (ABC News: Amelia Bernasconi)
"Residents downstream of that dam been advised to prepare to evacuate this morning. There's also a watch and act warning in place at Bulahdelah and Dungog advising people not to enter flood water," NSW SES spokesperson Andrew Edmunds said.
"Later today, we will see some caravan parks at Laurieton likely advised to prepare to evacuate due to rising flood water that will combine with a high tide."
The NSW SES has also said minor flooding is expected to impact other parts of the state, including the Orara river, Coffs Coast, Hastings river as well as the Manning and Gloucester rivers.
The BOM has issued a minor flood warnings for the Myall river and Paterson river, and a moderate flood warning for the Williams river.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds and rainfall for the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, South West Slopes and Snowy Mountains was cancelled at 1:15pm by the BOM.
A severe weather warning for damaging wind and heavy rainfall is in place for large parts of NSW. (ABC News)
According to SES, 1,988 of the near 3,000 incidents were across Greater Sydney, largely centred around fallen and damaged properties due to strong winds.
The vast majority of the callouts in Sydney were due to damaging winds and fallen trees. (Supplied)
The areas hit hardest, according to the NSW SES, are the Sutherland region, with 227 incidents.
This was followed by Bankstown and Ku-ring-gai at 189 and 127 incidents respectively.
Strong winds also a saw a vinyl sheet of the Sydney Cricket Ground's roofing fall into the stands during a Big Bash League match.
"We did have some injuries as a result of trees falling on properties and vehicles overnight," said Mr Edmunds.
Mr Edmunds added that there were reports of people being trapped and injured.
"And also at Hyde Park in Sydney yesterday afternoon, there were two people treated for minor injuries and taken to hospital after a tree fell on them in the park."
Andrew Edmunds said there had been some reports of injuries during the past 24 hours. (ABC News)
A spokesperson for Ausgrid said it had been a difficult and busy past few days, with electricity restored in some areas only to be again be cut off again after another storm.
Sydney's Ku-ring-gai reported some of the most incidents in the city overnight. (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)
He also acknowledged the frustration of people still in the dark.
"I understand how frustrating that elongated power energy can be, and particularly when there's a lack of information about when exactly that power comes back on," he said.
"We are working very closely with our colleagues at Essential Energy and Endeavour Energy to make sure that we are bringing other resources, but as you can probably imagine they're also dealing with similar challenges in their service areas."
The Newcastle-Hunter region was considered "ground zero" for Ausgrid and has opened up two drop in centres, one in Raymond Terrace and the other at Lemon Tree Passage.
By Saturday afternoon, 36,843 Ausgrid customers still had no electricity, Endeavour Energy was reporting 6,741 of its customers also impacted, while Essential Energy said services were due to be restored to most properties by Friday evening.
