Some areas of central Queensland and northeastern NSW expected to see up to 150mm in just 24 hours, beginning around Thursday April 4, 2024.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Persistent heavy rain is going to affect the eastern states over the end of the week and
00:04 into the weekend.
00:05 Primarily New South Wales, also parts of southern Queensland and eastern Victoria.
00:10 So let's dive right into it.
00:11 The wet weather has actually already begun.
00:14 Last night we have seen significant thunderstorm activity through this channel here, covering
00:18 central and southern parts of Queensland and some northeastern parts of New South Wales.
00:22 Heavy falls up and over 150mm in some places, leading to significant surface flooding.
00:29 And that is just a taste of what's to come over around the next three days.
00:33 So let's switch away from the radar and into the forecast for how things may look through
00:38 the remainder of Thursday.
00:39 And we're still looking at this channel here, central parts of Queensland, down across the
00:43 southeast.
00:44 Potentially not quite as much rainfall in this area where some of the most significant
00:48 falls fell overnight, but the focus is really going to shift into New South Wales from this
00:53 evening.
00:54 Heavy falls around the northern coast and inland on Thursday night.
00:57 And as we play through Friday, we will really start to see that rain focus in on the New
01:02 South Wales coast and about the mountains too, getting pushed onshore by a strong easterly
01:07 flow.
01:08 See this dashed blue line, that's a coastal trough which is just amplifying the rainfall,
01:12 leading to some really significant totals.
01:15 And throughout the day on Friday, all of these highly populated coastal centres are going
01:19 to have a very wet day, including Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, all the way up towards
01:24 Port Macquarie and even up towards the Queensland border.
01:27 We're not done on Friday either, we'll push forward into Saturday, see further heavy rain,
01:31 this time shifting southwards now, starting to target the south coast area of New South
01:36 Wales through the morning.
01:37 Also note eastern Victoria around Gippsland getting some heavy rain by Saturday.
01:42 Other spots we'll start to see that weather clear up through the day, the heavy rainfall
01:45 moves south and eastwards, a few further showers and maybe the odd thunderstorm could persist
01:51 into Sunday and the end of the weekend.
01:54 We have just issued a severe weather warning for parts of New South Wales for this big
01:58 yellow area here, heavy to locally intense rainfall.
02:03 The region starts just south of Newcastle and goes all the way down to Marimbula, of
02:07 course that includes Sydney, that includes Illawarra, that includes much of the south
02:11 coast area as well as many inland spots up towards the likes of Bathurst and Cooma.
02:16 The primary threat here is heavy to locally intense rainfall with thunderstorms but don't
02:21 rule out the chance of some damaging wind and also if you happen to be near the coastline,
02:26 hazardous surf is a possibility too with big waves and very rough seas all the way down
02:31 that New South Wales coast over the next couple of days.
02:35 Let's look ahead now and see the flood watches.
02:37 This is what could happen during and after the rainfall.
02:40 These are the areas that we may well see significant rises in river levels.
02:45 Starting in the north across this area where rain is expected today and into tomorrow in
02:48 Queensland, a broad flood watch but there's a lot of action in line with that severe weather
02:53 warning further south, in fact we can zoom in for a bit more detail.
02:57 Note the red here, that is the Hawkesbury and the Peon River inland and north of Sydney
03:02 with a major flood watch in place suggesting we could see major flooding across that river
03:07 before the week is done.
03:08 A number of other rivers have also got flood watches active as this rain is on the way
03:13 so if you are near any waterways and low lying areas through eastern New South Wales, stay
03:18 up to date with the forecast and the warnings and of course do listen to your local emergency
03:22 services.
03:23 Finally, just a quick look at some of the rainfall numbers that we're looking at over
03:26 the next few days.
03:27 We are well and truly into the 200mm plus range when we see these purple areas, inland
03:32 Sydney, inland Illawarra, inland parts of the South Coast District, could see even up
03:37 to 300mm in areas.
03:39 More broadly speaking, widespread rainfall of 30-80mm across a lot of New South Wales
03:45 and southern Queensland.
03:46 It is very, very wet, flash flooding and riverine flooding both possible.
03:50 This is going to be a dynamic and serious situation so do stay up to date with the warnings
03:54 and weather information at the Bureau app and website.
03:56 Thanks very much for listening.
03:57 (upbeat music)