Residents discovered damage to the Shelley Beach viewing platform in Moruya. Photo: Catherine Reilly.
The NSW South Coast is starting its recovery after damaging winds and heavy rainfall lashed much of southeast Australia.
An east coast low has been tracking northeastwards towards the Tasman Sea over the past 48 hours, but conditions are easing into Thursday (3 July) as it heads further east.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), in the three days to 9 am on Thursday, Ulladulla received 308 mm, Sanctuary Point 284 mm and Jervis Bay 331 mm – and some flooding.
Moruya and Deua rivers, the Bega River and the Snowy River are also experiencing minor flooding.
A NSW SES spokesperson said the emergency warnings at Sanctuary Point and Burrill Lake had been downgraded as of Thursday morning.
In a warning issued at about 4 am, the BoM said severe weather had stopped in some areas, including the South Coast and Illawarra districts.
Burrill Lake copped heavy rainfalls. Photo: Burrill Lake Community Association Inc Facebook.
However, a gale wind warning has since been issued for the Illawarra coast and a strong wind warning for the Batemans Bay and Eden coasts.
The strong wind warnings will continue into tomorrow (4 July) for the Illawarra, Batemans and Eden coasts.
NSW SES Eurobodalla commander Peter Collins said his units had been dealing with “trees and flooding” for several days, but skies were now looking clear.
“The sun is shining at the moment, which is really good!”
He said they were called to about 60 jobs over the past two days and were preparing to keep responding to ongoing damage from wind.
“A lot of them [call-outs] were kind of quite big jobs – trees on houses and things like that,” he said.
“They take a lot of time and a lot of effort for us, but we’ve gotten through most of them … Hopefully, we’ll have everything tidied up and finished off today.”
Across the state, NSW SES volunteers responded to 1442 incidents (including two flood rescues) in the 24 hours to Thursday.
“The majority of incidents have involved fallen trees and powerlines, damaged properties and vehicles, as well as flood related tasks,” a spokesperson said.
Mr Collins said NSW SES volunteers had also spoken with Surfside residents ahead of the storm.
Several houses in the Batemans Bay suburb had been inundated earlier this year after a previous storm surge, with residents calling for more action.
“We came up with a plan … We fixed up all the sandbagging that we had done previously,” he said.
“They were very well prepared up there for it. Somebody went by and had a check, and [it was] all still good up there.”
The River Road in Nelligen (above) has reopened after a closure. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
An Essential Energy spokesperson said the company was also working to repair damage to its network.
As of 8:30 am on Thursday, around 1300 homes and businesses were without power across the North, Mid North and South coast regions.
In a statement released on Thursday morning, Endeavour Energy said nearly 30,000 homes and businesses had their power knocked out during the storm.
As of 12:30 pm, 127 active outages remained, according to its website.
In Eurobodalla Shire, council has closed several roads:
- Old Bolaro Road, Nelligen (at the Paradise Creek causeway)
- Dwyers Creek Road, Moruya (at the Candoin Creek causeway)
- Congo Road (north), Congo (at the Congo Creek causeway)
- Sunnyside Road, Central Tilba (at the Victoria Creek causeway).
All sports grounds also remain closed.
However, The River Road, Nelligen (at the Nelligen Creek causeway) and Potato Point Road, Potato Point (at the Borang Creek causeway) reopened on Thursday.
Report fallen power lines to either Ausgrid (131 388), Endeavour Energy (131 003), Essential Energy (132 080) or Evoenergy (131 093) as shown on your power bill.
For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 132 500. The latest BoM warnings can be found online.
For more information about road closures, head to the Live Traffic website.
