Flash floods have prompted multiple rescues and calls for help as thunderstorms brought hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall to areas across New South Wales and stretching to the Queensland and Victorian borders.
Despite blue skies sending Sydneysiders flocking to the beach on Christmas morning, the Bureau of Meteorology warned that severe thunderstorms were possible for the entire coastline and likely for some inland regions later on Monday.
By lunchtime the area of most concern stretched from the Victorian border to beyond Dubbo in the north, taking in Orange, Canberra, Yass, Parkes, Wagga Wagga and Albury.
“Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours,” the bureau said in a statement.
On Sunday night floods prompted multiple rescues and calls for help in NSW as thunderstorms brought hail, damaging winds and widespread heavy rain.
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Almost 600 NSW State Emergency Service volunteers responded to calls for assistance late on Christmas Eve, including 25 separate flood rescue incidents, the bulk of them in the Sydney and Illawarra areas.
The NSW SES acting assistant commissioner, Allison Flaxman, said most of the rescues involved vehicles trapped in flood water.
“We also had several reports of buildings impacted by the flash flooding, with water leaking through roofs and under doors into garages and car parks,” she said.
SES volunteers spent Christmas morning continuing to help with clean-up efforts after significant storms ravaged parts of the northern rivers, metropolitan Sydney, Illawarra, south coast and Riverina.
Sydney copped a hammering on Sunday evening, with the suburb of Little Bay in the city’s east recording 56mm of rain in one hour.
The SES was called to 492 incidents on Christmas Eve, 313 of them across metropolitan Sydney.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, thanked emergency workers for their hard work.
“There’s been some really strange weather over the last couple of days, from bushfires to storms,” he said. “There’s been tens of thousands of volunteers for the RFS and State Emergency Services who’ve been working around the clock to keep us safe, to repair communities so they can have a Christmas together.”
Heavy rain also set in at Sydney airport on Sunday, causing disruptions to flights, with 15 flights cancelled across domestic and international departures and arrivals as of mid-morning on Monday, according to the airport website.
Sunday’s storms were widespread up and down the coast, with hail of up to 10cm in diameter reported in far north NSW near the Queensland border.
Thousands of properties lost power in south-east Queensland after supercells rolled across the state on Sunday afternoon.
On Monday multiple locations in Victoria were experiencing unplanned power outages, according to CitiPower and Powercor’s outage map, with some not expecting restoration until Monday evening.
VicEmergency issued a watch and act alert for flash flooding for residents of St Arnaud, about 160km from the Victoria-NSW border following heavy rainfall.
“If you are located in the St Arnaud township, you are in danger,” the alert said. “You should immediately move indoors, away from floodwater.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said the wet weather would continue for days, including the threat of more severe thunderstorms.
“The potential is there, in the atmosphere, that we will see … some very large hail, some heavy to intense rainfall, and we could see some damaging wind gusts associated with these big storms as well,” he said.
“There’s a chance of thunder or maybe even severe storms for Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
“All of those capitals [are] seeing a risk of thundery weather on Christmas Day.
“Even though it is a time for people to relax and celebrate, it is still worth keeping half an eye on the weather forecast, and in particular, the severe thunderstorm warnings.
“We often see those storms really pick up through the afternoon, and last into the evening.
“So even if the day starts off relatively clear and warm, there is a chance that it could take a dramatic shift.”
Flaxman said crews were prepared for a busy stretch and urged people to take care.
Fresh storm and flood warnings issued in Queensland
Queenslanders were hunkering down amid a Christmas Day warning for large hailstones, torrential rain and possible flash flooding in the state’s southern interior.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning on Monday for parts of Maranoa and Warrego and the Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts.
“Severe thunderstorms are developing along this trough and will gradually move east throughout the afternoon and evening,” it said.
Affected towns included Roma, Charleville, St George, Mitchell, Augathella and Surat.
The bureau said damaging winds were also possible. It also forecast isolated to scattered showers in most areas for Monday, apart from the far southwest.
Severe heat is expected in the northern interior and northwest, with maximum temperatures well above average.