The night will be long, warned Sunday July 3 the authorities of Sydney, where thousands of inhabitants were evacuated in prevention of a new episode of torrential rains, started Friday July 1.
Left to intensify, the precipitation was to break records, according to meteorologists. They are even expected to be more devastating than during the storm last March. The latter had killed 20 in the western suburbs of this city of more than 5 million inhabitants.
Maximum alert
In less than six hours, 120 mm of rain could fall, all accompanied by gusts of wind at 90 km / hour and waves of 5 meters which crash on the coasts. We will have to hold on: the deluge could well last until Tuesday.
“If you were safe in 2021, don’t assume you will be tonight. This is a rapidly changing situation and we may see areas affected that we have never seen before,” warned Sunday evening Steph Cook, minister of emergency services for the state of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital. He urges the population to follow the recommendations.
Roads were blocked, 30 evacuation orders were given before sunset, and 130 rescues had already taken place. In Camden, a city in the south-west of the agglomeration, stores were already flooded on Sunday. The people were referred to a shelter 60 km south-west of Sydney.
Residents who remain are urged to avoid non-essential travel, including by public transport, as other roads risk being submerged. A hundred soldiers were helping to protect the most exposed neighborhoods, installing sandbags and knocking on doors to warn of the threat.
Disaster upon disaster
The Warragamba Dam above the town had started to overflow in the early hours of Sunday morning. The authorities have already warned that the peak spill would be at least equal to that observed in March. It’s a real blow, as many homes, businesses and businesses came to repair the damage four months ago. “We have to start all over again”sighs Therese Fedeli, the mayor of Camden.
A very popular tourist region, New South Wales is particularly affected by the very marked climatic changes in Australia. The most populous state in the country experienced another shock, in 2019-2020, with “bush fires” which have ravaged the entire coastline. In the summer of 2019, the reservoir created by the Warragamba dam, Lake Burragorang, had reached its lowest level in fifteen years, while it is the city’s main water supply resource.
Sydney is suffering the brunt of a phenomenon well documented on a planetary scale by researchers: with rising temperatures, the atmosphere is loaded with water vapour, increasing the risk of heavy rainfall. The artificialization of the soil of the metropolis, its urban development aggravate the risk of flooding.