Australia Weather News

Emergency services in NSW have carried out two rescue operations as the "complex weather system" continues to move further inland. 

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has been urging motorists to stay off the roads, with the worst conditions expected to come over the next 24 hours.

On Monday night, Debbie Platz, Deputy Commissioner Operations, said both rescue operations had been in the south coast of the state.

"There was one this afternoon in the Shoalhaven area where a motor vehicle was driving along the road, slipped off the road into a drainage ditch with rising waters," she said.

"The other one was in Jamberoo where the vehicle drove through flooded waters."

She said the incidents were examples of how slippery and dangerous the conditions were for drivers.

The SES is expecting to see further waterlogging of grounds, leading to isolated road closures from flash flooding, which could continue over the next 48 hours.

More than 1,000 calls for help

In the 24 hours leading up to 7pm Monday night, the SES had received 1,700 calls for assistance. 

"Quite a staggering amount of incidents that are occurring, and to respond to that we've had 1,200 SES volunteers out and about today,"  Deputy Commissioner Platz said.

"Most of the incidents have been in the Mid North, Hunter coast area but it's now starting to pick up in the Sydney Metropolitan area and in the Illawarra, south coast area as well."

Heavy rainfall lashed the state's south with Kiama recording falls of 128 millimetres, up to 97mm in Kiama, while Wollongong had collected over 50mm. 

By nightfall the region was still getting rainfall of about 30mm per hour.

Earlier, Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said the current system was "much more intense and much sharper" than the prolonged flooding NSW saw in May. 

"So what we will see in the next 24 hours is rain but also very strong winds," he said.

By Monday night, four emergency evacuation orders were still in place for Wamberal, east of Gosford, and North Entrance after they were issued by the SES due to coastal erosion.

Wamberal has previously been hit hard by erosion, with high tides again hammering the shoreline.

Residents in the 29 beachfront properties impacted had until midnight to leave their homes. 

Earlier in the day SES volunteers had knocked on doors in the areas providing support and answering questions.

Mr Dib urged those impacted to "follow the instructions of emergency services".

"We've been here before, I can fully understand ... this is pretty hard again on the communities," he said, acknowledging flooding in the region less than two months ago.

Trees cause chaos, train disruptions

NSW Fire and Rescue said they had responded to a number of emergencies across Sydney and the Central Coast due to fallen trees caused by the strong winds.

Deputy Commissioner Platz said that in Lake Macquarie a downed tree had caused a four-car crash.

While in Sydney's west, where wind speeds reached 102 kilometres per hour in Penrith, a tree fell on a train impacting the T1 Western Line and Blue Mountains Line.

"Trains were disrupted due to a tree crashing through the driver’s windscreen and impacting overhead wiring at Kingswood, while a tree is blocking the track at Lapstone," Transport for NSW said in a statement.

"As a result, trains are not running between Valley Heights and St Marys in both directions."

More than 100 passengers were onboard and waited for about two hours before they were safely evacuated.

Major disruptions were also felt on the Central Coast and Newcastle lines, with buses replacing services after downed trees damaged overhead wiring.

The first incident at Dora Creek occurred after high voltage electrical wires came "to rest on top of a passenger and freight train". 

According to Transport for NSW, no one was injured and the 60 passengers were safely transferred to a bus.

The other incident at Koolewong meant that trains were "unable to operate between Hawkesbury River and Gosford."

Thousands remain without power

More than 40,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Monday night.

On its Facebook page, provider Ausgrid said their emergency crews "would be working through the night to restore power where possible and attend hazardous situations following a day of heavy rain and high winds."

"As the wild weather continues, crews are working to make areas safe, remove hazards and get the power back on when it’s safe to do so."

According to data from NSW power outage tracker, the lights were also off for more than 16,000 Endeavour customers and for more than 2,000 customers with Essential.