Sydney, Brisbane weather: Do NOT drive: Entire state is hit with drastic Black Nor’easter rain bomb warning – as flights are cancelled, Warragamba Dam ‘will spill over’

The entire state of NSW has been told not to leave their homes unless their trips are ‘necessary’.

NSW SES Commissioner Carleen York said the wild weather hammering down across the state made driving dangerous and advised residents to stay indoors.

‘I’m asking people that If it’s not a necessary trip to put it off to another day,’ she said on Friday.

More than 550 people have called the SES for help in the past 24 hours, with seven flood rescues conducted since Monday.

Water NSW chief executive Andrew George said the dam will spill on Monday.

The wet weather is set to ease up by Sunday but the Warragamba dam is currently at 96 per cent capacity.

It needs just 90mm of rain to spill, with weather forecasters predicting 150mm is on the way.

‘What’s important about that is that the spill will occur likely when the rainfall event has moved on, so it is very important that the community remain vigilant,’ he told reporters on Friday.

The NSW SES is advising people in the following areas to stay indoors due to damaging winds, and heavy to locally intense rainfall: Sydney, Wollongong, Gosford, Nowra, Batemans Bay and Goulburn.

The SES have rescued seven people since Monday and received more than 550 calls for help within the last 24 hours.

An elderly man was spotted sitting on the roof of a submerged car just outside of Lismore on Friday as wild weather lashed NSW’s northern rivers.

Leanne Graham, said she noticed the man on Boatharbour Rd, in Boat Harbour, on Friday morning when she went to feed her horses.

The 4WD had been almost completely submerged in brown floodwaters.

Ms Graham told her husband Keith who then waded out to rescue the man, bringing him safely back to dry land.

‘He was a bit shaken up, he’d been there for about half an hour,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘We wouldn’t have seen him if my wife hadn’t been down to feed the horse.’

A relative then came to pick up the man who Mr Graham said was lucky to be alive.

The Sydney CBD was drenched with 111m of rain in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday.

Wahroongah on the North Shore saw 116mm, while Bondi in the eastern suburbs was soaked with 71mm.

Out in the west, Penrith was soaked with as much as 85mm, with the nearby suburb of Willmot receiving 87mm.

Castle Hill in the northwest copped 70mm.

Further out west in the Blue Mountains, Wentworth Falls was drenched with 112mm in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday, as was Kurrajong Heights.

These rainfalls are only expected to have soared since Friday morning as the rain continues to hammer down.

While Sydney has been drenched with rain since Thursday afternoon, a heavy downpour is due to hit at midnight on Friday.

Hourly rainfalls are set to peak from 12am with 6mm an hour forecast, according to Weatherzone.

Over the next five hours, 5mm of rain is likely to fall every hour until dropping slightly at 6am on Saturday.

The sun is expected to come out in Sydney by midday on Saturday.

Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia have all cancelled flights in and out of Sydney Airport on Friday amid the wild weather.

All up 92 domestic arriving and departing flights have either been cancelled or delayed.

Those travelling along the North Shore and Western lines have been told to expect delays after train equipment was damaged at Redfern Station from severe rainfall.

‘There may be larger than normal gaps in service & stops may change at short notice,’ Sydney Trains wrote on X.

‘This is a significant weather event – it’s very important that everyone in NSW listens to the latest broadcast,’ Mr Minns told reporters.

‘It is most important that you don’t take unnecessary risks at the moment, particularly travelling through flood waters.

‘There has been seven rescues since Monday by the SES across New South Wales.

‘That number is expected to increase in the coming days.’

The Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary was forced to close on Thursday after heavy rainfall left the park submerged in brown water.

‘Within just thirty minutes, half of our sanctuary was submerged underwater. But amidst the chaos, our dedicated teams—keepers, administrators, and hospital staff—sprang into action to ensure the safety of our beloved animals,’ the sanctuary wrote on Facebook.

‘Despite their heroic efforts, we’re now facing significant challenges. We’ve lost vital perimeter fences, endured damage to enclosures, pathways, and buildings, and the threat of more rain hangs over us.

‘As a result, The Sanctuary will remain closed until further notice as we work tirelessly to assess risks and restore our haven for wildlife.’

In some good news, Steve Bernasconi from the BOM said the weather systems causing havoc are set to move southeast into the Tasman Sea on Sunday.

Sydney is expected to see a warm and dry Sunday with the mercury tipped to reach a high of 28C.

Parts of eastern Victoria and possibly northeastern Tasmania may receive some wet weather from Saturday afternoon into Sunday.

The BOM has issued the following flood warnings for NSW:

Tweed and Rous Rivers – minor flooding

Richmond River – minor flooding

Orara River – minor flooding

Bellinger and Kalang Rivers – minor flooding

Nambucca River – minor flooding

Hastings River – minor flooding

Camden Haven River – minor flooding

Manning and Gloucester Rivers – minor flooding

Wallis Lake – minor flooding

Myall River – minor flooding

Goulburn and Upper Hunter Rivers – minor flooding

Wollombi Brook and Lower Hunter River

minor to moderate flooding

Paterson and Williams Rivers – minor flooding

Lake Macquarie – minor flooding

Upper Nepean River – minor to major flooding

Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean Rivers – minor to major flooding

Colo River – moderate to major flooding

Cooks River – minor flooding

Georges and Woronora Rivers – minor to moderate flooding

Shoalhaven River – minor flooding

St Georges Basin – minor flooding

Moruya and Deua Rivers – minor flooding

Bega River – minor flooding

Upper Macintyre River – minor flooding

Gwydir River – minor flooding

Macquarie River to Bathurst – minor to moderate flooding

Orange, Molong and Bell River – minor to moderate flooding

Lachlan River to Cotton’s Weir – minor flooding

Belubula River – minor to moderate flooding

Mandagery Creek – minor flooding

Queanbeyan and Molonglo Rivers – minor flooding

Grandfather, Peter Wells, 71, was found dead in his car in floodwaters in Greenbank, Logan in Queensland, just after 5am on Thursday.

Police were called to conduct a welfare check after a car was found submerged in water at a private property.

Mr Wells (pictured below) was found dead near the vehicle. Greenbank had received 153mm of rain overnight on Thursday.

Meanwhile, two men are missing following a boat crash on the Broadwater in Southport on the Gold Coast, just after 5am on Friday.

Two boats collided at Runaway Bay, with one man rushed to hospital with leg and arm injuries after reportedly swimming to shore.

Another man also suffered severe injuries.

Police are searching for two others.

There have been ten car crashes across Sydney since Thursday morning when heavy rain started hammering down.

The Live Traffic Sydney X page has been monitoring collisions, which sparked road closures across the city on Thursday and again on Friday morning.

Three out of four of the northbound lanes on the Pacific Motorway have been closed in Mount Colah on Friday morning due to a collision, causing headaches for those heading to work.

A tree fell down on Mona Vale Road near the St Ives Showground at about 6pm on Thursday, closing one eastbound lane.

Stay updated with any traffic alerts here.

Sydney is set to cop between 50mm and 100mm of rain on Friday.

In Penrith in the city’s west, as much as 140mm is possible, while in the Blue Mountains 150mm of rain is on the forecast.

Wollongong, south of Sydney, could be drenched with between 35mm to 130mm on Friday. The city’s average rainfall for April is 75mm.

Weatherzone’s Ben Domensino said the severe weather could bring as much as a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours to some parts of the east coast.

While southeast Queensland and NSW are expected to cop the worst of the miserable conditions, Victoria and Tasmania are also set to see the wet weather on Saturday into Sunday.

‘Higher rainfall totals are likely to occur along the coast and ranges in central eastern NSW, where parts of Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Hunter, Illawarra and South Coast could receive 100 to 200mm between Thursday and Saturday, with isolated totals possibly exceeding 250mm,’ he said.

‘This much rain has the potential to cause flash flooding and may lead to minor to major flooding in parts of NSW from Friday or Saturday, including the Hawkesbury-Nepean River.’

Sydney has already copped 100mm of rain since 9am on Thursday.

The average rainfall in Greater Sydney for April is 106mm.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall and damaging winds to those living in Metropolitan, Illawarra, South Coast, Southern Tablelands and parts of the Hunter, Central Tablelands, Snowy Mountains and Australian Capital Territory forecast districts.

Sydney, Gosford, Wollongong, Nowra, Batemans Bay and Goulburn are all expected to be drenched with severe rainfall on Friday into Saturday.

Flash flooding is also possible in parts of the Hunter, Sydney, Illawarra and Central Tablelands from late on Friday morning.

‘Six-hourly rainfall totals between 50 to 90 mm are likely, reaching up to 130 mm over the Illawarra escarpment,’ the weather warning read.

’24 hour totals of 70-120 mm are also likely, reaching up to 150 mm over the Blue Mountains and Illawarra escarpment.’

The BOM has warned dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is also possible between the Blue Mountains and Narooma on the South Coast from Friday night into Saturday morning.

As much as 150mm of rain is expected to fall in these areas in just six hours.

‘Localised 24-hourly rainfall totals between 120 and 200 mm are possible, and may reach up to 300 mm over the Illawarra escarpment (in the South Coast),’ the BOM said.

Damaging winds with gusts of up to 90km/hour are also possible in Sydney on Friday night.

The reason for the wild weather currently hammering down is the combination of an upper-level low pressure system and a coastal trough forming off the east coast.

This coastal trough will funnel tropical moisture from the north, resulting in intense rainfall.

When this occurs, it can spark a rare weather phenomenon – known as a Black Nor’easter.

This is when black clouds plunge some areas into darkness even in the middle of the day.

The following schools have been closed in NSW:

• Baryulgil Public School
• Coffee Camp Public School
• Corndale Public School
• Longneck Lagoon Environmental Education Centre
• Megalong Public School
• North Star Public School
• Orama Public School
• Tulloona Public School
• AI-Faisal College, Auburn
• Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula School, Eungella

Angus Hines from the Bureau of Meteorology said huge downpours of 150mm and over had fallen in parts of northern NSW and southeast Queensland on Thursday morning.

He said the significant rainfall had led to surface flooding.

‘And that is just a taste of what’s to come over the next three days,’ he said.

The most severe weather will be seen on Friday with widespread falls of 50mm to 100mm of rain expected to hammer down from Brisbane to the NSW South Coast.

The reason for the wild weather is the combination of an upper-level low pressure system and a coastal trough forming off the east coast.

This coastal trough will funnel tropical moisture from the north, resulting in intense rainfall.

Miriam Bradbury from the Bureau of Meteorology warned the heaviest rains and strongest winds will be seen on Friday.

‘As we go through the later part of Thursday into Friday, that’s when we’ll see the most severe weather starting to ramp up as a trough deepens off the east coast of NSW,’ she said.

‘Rainfall of this magnitude can lead to flash flooding.’