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| Hourly
radar and lightning animation for today shows slow-moving, heavy showers
and rain areas moving onto the Illawarra Coast during the early to mid-morning
period, gradually easing during the rest of the day. Weatherzone
Silver |
 Torrential
rain, flooding continue around Wollongong
NSW
Slow-moving showers continued in the northern Illawarra this morning
bringing continued flooding and traffic chaos
around Wollongong. The meteorological setup was similar to yesterday's
with a moist onshore stream activated by marginal instability aloft, areas
of
local
wind convergence
and the orographic uplift provided by the Illawarra Escarpment. See yesterday's
report for rainfall maps and a more detailed explanation of the mechanisms
producing the rain.
The heaviest rain occurred during the early morning in a 15km strip from just
south of Wollongong to the northern suburb of Bellambi. Wollongong City gauge
recorded
110mm between 3 and 9am, 44 of which fell in the hour to 7am, while Bellambi
Point AWS received 74.4mm between 2 and 6am. High 24 hour totals included 179
at
Bellambi
and
at Cringila
just south of Wollongong, 162
at Wollongong
City and 142mm at Wollongong University. Liverpool flood warning gauge recorded
138 and Reverces,
about
15km
SW of the southern Sydney suburb of Sutherland, 157, most of which fell
yesterday.
The deluge around Wollongong was the heaviest since 1998 with homes, businesses
and schools flooded and widespread transport disruption. Flooding closed numerous
roads and traffic delays were compounded by many accidents, particularly
on the F6 and Mount Ousley Roads. The Illawarra Highway between Albion Park
Rail and Albion Park as well as Rose Valley Road south of Kiama and Darkes
Road at Dapto remained closed until Tuesday. Flooding cut the Wollongong to
Port Kembla rail line at Cringilla between 6.45am and 3pm, requiring a substitution
bus
service. The SES received 125 calls for assistance, mostly in Wollongong but
with several dozen in Shellharbour and Kiama. Most were for leaking roofs and
minor building flooding. One metre of water flooded the basement of the Telstra
building in central Wollongong, while in the city's north the Bulli hotel cellar
and classrooms at Thirroul High School were flooded. 180 homes and businesses
in Port Kembla lost telephone service for most of the day, with many remaining
without phone service until Tuesday.
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Above: Rainfall deficiencies
for the 21 months from July 2002 to March this year. A large area in
eastern VIC and southeastern
NSW remains in severe deficiency (rainfall in the lowest 10% of recorded
falls), while the inner deep red areas in east Gippsland and on the NSW
Southern Tablelands have experienced their driest comparable period on
record. 
Below: Rainfall deficiencies for the first 3 months
of 2004. BoM |
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Record
dry in eastern VIC, SE NSW
The Bureau of Meteorology's Drought
Statement issued today reveals that a large area of East Gippsland
in VIC, and two areas on the NSW Southern Tablelands have recorded their
driest 21 month to March period on record.
An area around Bairnsdale is worst affected, with the Statement noting that
the lack of rainfall is "notable in that this general
region has experienced below
normal rainfall for most of the past 8 years. Because the deficiencies extend
over such a long period, they’re likely
to take some time to be removed. For example, around Bairnsdale over 400
mm of rain would be required over the next three months just to elevate the
rainfall since July 2002 to the tenth percentile [i.e. to move it out of
the serious deficiency category]. Such a total would be near to, or above
the record high April to June rainfall for this region!"
Small areas around Cooma and south of Canberra have also recorded their
lowest 21 month to March totals on record.
The first 3 months of this year have been among the driest on record
across VIC and particularly along the Murray Valley. Echuca has recorded
8.8mm (average 84.5), Shepparton 11 (70) and Benalla 28.4 (120.2). Places
setting new record low first quarter rain totals included:
- Quambatook in
the Mallee, with 1.2 mm for the 3-months (previous record 2.1
mm in 1965),
- Cobram and Nathalia in the Northern Country, with 6.0 mm and 2.8 mm,
respectively (previous records 9.0 mm in 1986, and 4.0 mm in 1965, respectively),
- Burrowye, Lake Nillahcootie, and Warrenbayne in the Northeast, with
19.6 mm, 25.0 mm, and 31.0 mm, respectively (previous records 47.4 mm in
1998,
43.4 mm in 1985, and 38.6 mm in 1986, respectively).
Melbourne recorded 91mm for the 3 months, 45mm shy of the average. This
comes on top of 7 years of below average rainfall for the city, the longest
period
on
record that there have been successive below-average rain years. Across the continent, Perth has recorded its driest first 3 months of the
year on record with just 2mm.
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