Categories: News

Sydney storms: residents ordered to evacuate

Several roads were impassable and hundreds of homes were evacuated on Wednesday night in south-west Sydney after the flooding of the Georges River in the wake of the severe storms which have deluged the city and surrounding regions.

A spokesperson from the State Emergency Service said it conducted 35 separate flood rescues. Approximately 200 homes around Milperra were evacuated.

Steve Spowart and Sonia Sharrock try to help a horse stranded in barbed wire in flood waters on April 22, 2015 near Dungog, Australia. IMAGE: Daniel Munoz/Getty Images

While the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) classified the flood as minor, both the organisation and the SES predicted that all homes were at risk of being flooded.

Main roads around south-west Sydney were unnavigable on Wednesday on account of the flood waters. Levels reached a peak of 9.3 metres at the Colo River on Wednesday night.

NSW floods, April 2015 (Daniel Munoz/Getty Images)

Rising waters resulted in abandoned cars, shops and businesses closing early and debris scattered everywhere.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, many residents were unconcerned and did not leave their houses, telling volunteers that they were used to flooding. Many houses along the river are raised or built on stilts.

Also view: Houses are floating down the streets in New South Wales [VIDEO]

BOM has issued flood warnings for Georges River at Liverpool, Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers, Wyong River, Tuggerah Lake, Lake Macquarie, Paterson River and Williams River.

The highest 24-hour rainfall totals of approximately 130 millimetres were recorded in Sydney’s north-west and south, around Hornsby and Engadine.

TOP IMAGE: Flood waters enter the Parramatta ferry wharf in Sydney on April 22, 2015. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

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