The Hawkesbury River is reaching peak flood levels as some regions of south-east NSW experience their fourth inundation in 18 months.
Look back at Monday's developments with our live blog.
Key events
- The Prime Minister says assistance is being provided to flood affected regions
- SES rescues mother and six-week-old baby from rising Sydney floodwaters
- Evacuation order issued for parts of Sackville North, Cattai, Wilberforce
- SES rescues elderly man in Sydney's west
- 21 people stranded on cargo ship off Sydney
- Evacuation order issued for parts of Richards and Londonderry
- 'We need to take climate change seriously': Emergency Management Minister
- NSW Premier, emergency services to provide update at 10am AEST
- Parts of Sydney, Illawarra, Hunter regions record more than 100 millimetres overnight
- Here's what you need to know about the floods in NSW
Live updates
By Jessica Riga
Where to find emergency assistance and information:
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For emergency assistance, contact NSW SES on 132 500
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If your life is at risk, call Triple Zero (000) immediately
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Roads and bridges may be impacted by flash flooding. You can find the latest evacuation orders here
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For the latest weather updates visit the Bureau of Meteorology
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If you're not sure what to do when there's a flood, here's the best way to plan
Listen to ABC Local Radio for regular updates:
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ABC Sydney on 702am or online
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Search for a different frequency using the ABC Radio Finder
By Jacqueline Howard
That's where we'll leave the blog today
This is where we will wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for your company.
Stay safe tonight and we will see you again tomorrow.
By Jacqueline Howard
Full list of evacuation orders
Is there an updated figure for the number of evacuation orders that are in place? As of writing
-Brooke
According to the NSW SES, there are 169 'notifications' current across the state. Around half of these are evacuation orders, and the others are evacuation warnings and other flood-related alerts.
By Jacqueline Howard
By Shiloh Payne
A cargo ship that lost power has been pulled out to sea
A cargo ship that lost power off the coast of Sydney's Royal National Park has been pulled further out to sea by tug boats.
Here's some vision of the ship:
By Shiloh Payne
By Shiloh Payne
SES issues Evacuation Order for the eastern part of Wisemans Ferry
NSW SES is directing residents and businesses within Eastern part of Wisemans Ferry to evacuate properties along Singleton Rd from the Wisemans Ferry town centre to the western edge of Laughtondale now.
The order says residents should proceed along Sungleton Road to Old Northern Road and head south to Castle Hill.
Once floodwater reaches 3.15 metres at the Webbs Creek the area will be siolated, the SES warns.
You can check the full list of evacuation orders here on the NSW SES website.
By Shiloh Payne
By Shiloh Payne
The Prime Minister says assistance is being provided to flood affected regions
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken for the first time on the unfolding situation, he says he's been briefed and assistance is being provided.
By Shiloh Payne
By Shiloh Payne
Police and firefighters set up flying fox for essential ration packs
Polie and firefighters in the Blue Mountains have set up a pulley system to transfer ration packs over a flooded causeway.
By Shiloh Payne
Floods hit Bathurst sending bridges underwater
Parts of Bathurst are underwater as floodwaters continue to move across NSW.
By Shiloh Payne
Family of five rescued from their western Sydney home
Here's the latest from Tim Swanston:
NSW SES crews have performed several rescues this morning in Londonderry.
Water levels are rising in the area, cutting off roads and inundating homes.
Evacuation orders were issued for Londonderry this morning.
Hamed, his partner and three children were rescued by SES a short time ago.
"The water came up so quickly," he said.
"We thought we'd get out this morning and just to put some furniture and things up on the first floor."
"We woke up this morning one and a half meters underwater."
ABC reporter Harriet Tatham took these photos:
By Shiloh Payne
Hawkesbury River to peak this afternoon
Here's the latest from Kamin Gock on the ground:
The Hawkesbury River is expected to peak in Windsor this afternoon at 13.3 metres.
Debris is building up along the Windsor bridge which has again gone under.
It will remain closed for some time until the water subsides, and it's cleared of any flood damage.
The swollen river system has divided the Hawkesbury in two with local SES crews focusing on keeping isolated communities connected with emergency supplies.
ADF personnel have been knocking door to door around the Windsor township assessing residents' situations.
By Shiloh Payne
By Shiloh Payne
SES rescues mother and six-week-old baby from rising Sydney floodwaters
Dwayne Miller, a volunteer with the State Emergency Service Hawkesbury unit, recounted the dramatic rescue on ABC Radio Sydney.
He was among a group of SES volunteers conducting a routine doorknock in Gronos Point, on the northern banks of the Hawkesbury river, near Wilberforce, on Sunday afternoon when they met a woman who had recently moved to the flood-prone area.
"Unfortunately she wasn't aware of the usual flooding situation of the area," Mr Miller said. "We gave her some advice that she should seek some refuge with some friends because her husband was on the opposite side of the river."
But shortly after the SES members left, the Hawkesbury River began to rise rapidly.
"We came back and grabbed her as quickly as we could, put her in our high-clearance vehicle, our Unimog [all-terrain truck], and drove her across the floodwaters on the other side," Mr Miller told ABC Mornings host James O'Loghlin.
"We were all pretty nervous because the water was rising very rapidly. We really had to put some urgency on it otherwise we would have been trapped there ourselves."
Mr Miller praised the mother for remaining calm during the emergency, while "the baby slept through the whole thing".
By Shiloh Payne
So why has there been so many floods in the last 18 months?
Dr Ian Wright from the School of Science at Western Sydney University says the Western Sydney region has spread into flood-prone lands.
"Development has been approved despite the known risks of flooding," Dr Wright says.
"The NSW SES have continuously reminded us of how exposed many Western Sydney communities are to flooding emergencies."
"The community are critical that Government has failed to adequately prepare for flooding emergencies.
"For example, the recently rebuilt Windsor bridge over the Hawkesbury River was completed in 2021, at a cost of $100 million. It has attracted criticism as it has now been closed from four floods in 18 months."
Associate Professor Iftekhar Ahmed from the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Newcastle, says there's a lot of discussion on whether these events are linked to climate change.
"Such heavy rainfall at this time of the year is unseasonal and the effects of La Niña are expected to persist well into the winter season," Professor Ahmed says.
"A cycle of disaster after disaster induced by advancing climate change renders each cycle of lessons gained redundant, posing difficulty in translating the lessons when newly established knowledge thresholds are breached."
By Shiloh Payne
By Jessica Riga
The Camden Bowling Club has been completely inundated
The NSW SES and Rural Fire Service are currently on the scene pumping water out from the bowling green.
By Shiloh Payne
Residents told to prepare to evacuate Lake Illawarra
ABC reporter Holly Tregenza has filed this report from the area.
Low lying areas of Lake Illawarra have been issued an alert to be ready to evacuate as the situation worsens.
There is an expected water level peak later this evening at high tide.
Carol and Frank Brown have been residents here for 19 years and said this year the water level has risen higher than ever before.
'This is the worst it's got for us over the whole 19 years,' Mr Brown said.
The SES have told them to be ready to leave.
'If it reaches past our first step, we should consider evacuation,' Mrs Brown said.
'We're not panicked, at our age, we can't afford to panic,' she said.
'But we have things ready to go if we need.'
