Floods, heavy rain affecting Tasmania, Victoria, NSW

Heavy rainfall has brought moderate to major flooding across several states and left thousands of homes without power as the threat of further wild weather today caused the Bureau of Meteorology to issue more warnings.

In Victoria, major flood warnings were in place for the Campaspe, Goulburn, Maribyrnong, Ovens and King Rivers, while commercial shipping operations were suspended at the Port of Devonport today due to expected flooding of the Mersey River, leading to the cancellation of Sprit of Tasmania sailings.

“Rivers have responded very quickly and a number of flood warnings are current, particularly across Victoria and Tasmania,” Senior Meteorologist Jonathan How said. “Many of these are new, and flood watches continue to be active as rivers start to rise even further with this rainfall coming through.”

Sheffield on Tasmania’s north-west coast had received 104mm in the 24 hours to 9am and a further 32mm had fallen by 4pm. Inland Great Lake East in the central northern region received 185mm by 9am, while in regional Victoria 129mm fell at Strathbogie North and 90mm at Seymour. Pooncarie in southwest NSW received 70mm.

Heavy to intense rainfall in Tasmania could lead to life threatening flash flooding, the bureau said, as the state also faced risks from damaging winds.

The latest weather system is adding to problems caused in NSW by last week’s storms.

IAG said yesterday it had received 1207 claims since October 3 due to heavy rains and floods, with the majority from customers in NSW.

“Our major event response team and partner builders are helping our customers by providing emergency support such as temporary accommodation and assessing damage to properties and conducting make safe repairs where it is safe to do so,” EGM Direct Claims Luke Gallagher said.

“While we have received a moderate number of claims related to the recent heavy rainfall, we do anticipate we will hear from more customers who need our support as major flood warnings remain in place across western New South Wales.”

IAG Meteorologist Peter Chan said flood waters caused by heavy rainfall over the past week will take time to move through the downstream sections of catchments, so further flooding could be experienced.

Clear skies are expected to return tomorrow and Saturday but the Bureau of Meteorology warns flooding impacts could last well into next week.