The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is warning the entire east coast of Australia to be ready for a wet and stormy end to Christmas.
Angus Hines from the BOM said severe thunderstorms were forecast to stretch from central Queensland down to Victoria’s southern coast, hitting capital cities along the way.
“[It] could be a stormy one,” Mr Hines said.
“It really is targeting the eastern states, but it’s a broad swathe of eastern Australia which is at risk of showers, thunderstorms, and possibly severe thunderstorms.
Last night, NSW State Emergency Service (SES) crews responded to 25 call-outs for flash flood rescues in Sydney’s east, and there were major disruptions to flights at Sydney Airport after it received 90mm of rain.
Mr Hines said there was a chance for similar conditions today.
“We could see some very, very large hailstones, which we’ve been seeing in parts of south-east Queensland over the past couple of afternoons. And even some damaging winds,” he said.
In the regional Victorian town of Wedderburn, about 217 kilometres north west of Melbourne, flood waters have inundated some homes and businesses.
Sydneysiders are being told to brace for more flash flooding as up to 150mm of rain is predicted to fall throughout the afternoon.
Western Sydney saw as much as 143mm of rain overnight, with the BOM predicting more than 100mm in isolated regions today.
NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearns said volunteers are gearing up for a tough day of weather incidents.
“Our volunteers were out there yesterday and they’re out on the ground today,” Assistant Commissioner Kearns said.
“It can be very hard to predict where the severe thunderstorms are going to occur and when you see them they can produce isolated rainfalls of up to 200mm.
“Yesterday we did see 60mm in some parts of Sydney just in an hour, which would lead to the flash flooding that you do see.”
Pagewood, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was battered during the storm, with SES called to a series of townhouses after 30 garages flooded.
In Queensland, power outages caused by storms across the south-east of Queensland, have left 11,266 customers still without power as of 11am.
Up to 57,000 homes lost power during the storms with energy company Energex stating they had worked overnight to fix the network.
Before the forecast change, families in Queensland basked in temperatures averaging 30C, hitting beaches and watering holes.
(ABC)
