|
 NSW:
Heavy rain, strong winds on South and Illawarra Coasts
The trough that brought flooding to NE NSW and SE QLD yesterday crossed the
NSW South Coast overnight bringing heavy rain from late yesterday afternoon
to the early hours of this morning. Strong winds accompanied the trough, with
storm-force winds causing major damage in the Bega Valley.
Tathra was worst hit, with the roof of one house blown across a road and two
other homes partially unroofed in violent winds at about 1.10am. Many caravans
in the Tathra Beach Caravan Park were damaged, trees were uprooted, power
poles bent and windows smashed. Most of the town lost power. Minor wind damage
was also reported elsewhere in the Bega Valley. Wind gusts of 104km/h at Green
Cape and 100km/h at Gabo Island were recorded around 1 and 2am.
Most stations on the South Coast reported from 50 to over 100mm of rain
in the 24 hours to 9am with the heaviest falls between Moruya and Bega. The
highest were Bodalla PO 105.4, Plumwood Fire Tower (in the mountains SW of
Moruya) 103.0 and Bega AWS 88.2. Cathcart flood warning gauge, 15km NE of Bombala,
reported 102mm.
It was also wet and windy overnight in the Illawarra, with the SES reporting
232 callouts, 122 in Wollongong, between 8am yesterday and midday today. At
Kiama, a house was badly damaged by an uprooted tree. Wind gusts between 80
and 85km/h were recorded overnight at Kiama, Bellambi and Moss Vale. The heaviest
24 hour rainfalls to 9am were 157.0 at Robertson Pie Shop,
144.7 at Wollongong University and 125.0 at Albion Park
(Wollongong Airport). The flood gauge at Wattamolla, 15km N of Nowra, reported
157mm. Flash flooding caused traffic disabilities across the region.
While rain was heaviest near the coast, good falls were recorded across the
Sydney water catchment. In the week following the rain, dam levels rose to
41.3%, up 3.4% and equivalent to 82 billion litres of water or two months'
supply for the city.
Newsbits
NSW, QLD: High rain totals for a second day
QLD: Widespread fog in the SE
NSW, QLD: Warm night
TAS: Heavy rain in the north
High 24-hour rainfall totals were recorded through eastern
NSW and SE QLD, in many cases for the second day in a row, though most related
to rain that
fell yesterday. Falls above 50mm are listed in Wettest. Tweed
Heads Golf Club, which registered a record-breaking 382.0 yesterday, again
topped
the
national rainlist
with
230.8
today for
a 2-day total of 612.8mm. Cape Byron, which had its wettest June day on record
yesterday, fell just short of having its wettest July day today, its 101.3mm
falling just 0.8mm shy of the extreme.
High levels of ground moisture following the heavy rain in SE QLD led to widespread fog this morning, with many stations from the
Darling Downs east to the coast reporting fog in the Noteworthy
weather observations. They also kept overnight minimum temperatures
high, with parts of SE QLD and NE NSW recording lows 8 to 10 above
normal (see Hottest). It was a warm day in
the central east, too, with Heron Island's top of 25.3 just 0.2 shy of its
25-year July high.
As the trough cleared the NSW coast, a low forming in eastern Bass Strait
directed moist NE winds and heavy rain onto the TAS North
coast with
the heaviest falls in the northwest. Yolla recorded 85.6mm in the 2 days
to 9am
2 July,
though most of that fell today. Other heavy totals are in the State extremes for today and 2
July. With northern catchments dry and rivers below their average winter
levels, no flooding occurred. | 
