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"Avoid unnecessary travel": Easter school holidays thrown into chaos as NSW braces for wild weather
By Peter Holmes
School holiday getaways over Easter are in limbo, with the NSW SES warning of the possibility of flash flooding, minor-to-moderate flooding and landslips in NSW, focused mainly on areas from the Hunter Valley to the far NSW South Coast, from Wednesday to Friday.
Orange is expected to avoid the worst of the deluge, according to forecasts, although there is potential for flooding along the Macquarie River to Bathurst.
The Northern Rivers are forecast to be spared from the worst of the rainfall.
There is the chance of more than 250mm of rain falling in some parts of the state on Thursday.
It will be bookended by days with a chance of more than 100mm of rain (Wednesday) and more than 150mm (Friday).
The rainfall should weaken over the weekend.
"Moderate to heavy rainfall [is] forecast for large parts of NSW over the coming days," said SES assistant commissioner Dean Storey. "Avoid unnecessary travel.
"If you're travelling to, or through, an area forecast to be impacted by the severe weather, reconsider your travel and make that smart safety decision for yourselves and your family."
Storey said that "the ground is saturated, rivers are full, dams are at capacity ... any additional heavy rainfall could very quickly escalate into flash flooding, and we may also see riverine flooding across large proportions of the state".
He warned people living in, and planning to travel to, affected areas to "remain vigilant" and stay up-to-date with weather advice and information from the Bureau of Meteorology, the SES and local ABC radio.
"Things can change very quickly," Storey said.
He said if drivers found themselves on a road that was flooding, "turn around, find another way".
There is the potential for minor to moderate flooding around the Hawkesbury, Nepean Valley and Colo River.
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