Sydney weather to worsen; city, regional NSW SES flood warnings issued

Sydney and the rest of the state is bracing for gale force winds and possibly deadly flooding as the trough causing wild weather on Australia’s east coast is expected to deepen.

The Bureau of Meteorology updated their severe weather warning this morning to warn residents across Sydney, the Illawarra and the Central Tablelands to expect heavy rainfall leading to possible flash flooding.

The warnings are particularly dire between the Blue Mountains and Narooma where the Bureau is expecting intense rainfall may lead to “dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding” from this evening into Saturday morning.

Between 90 and 150 millimetres is expected to fall in just six hours, reaching up to 220 millimetres on the Illawarra escarpment – which could record up to 300 millimetres in the next 24 hours.

Speaking to my colleague Christopher Harris last night, a bureau spokesman said the heavier rainfall was set to start later today.

“The most intense rainfall is from Friday evening into Saturday morning… There could be a few thunderstorms with it,” he said.

However, he said, it was tricky to predict precisely which areas would be worst affected.

“From the point of view of the quantity of rainfall and timeframe in a certain area, is difficult to predict.”