– I’ve never seen a rain like this – VG

In the most populous state in the country, New South Wales, there has been up to 853 millimeters of rain in some places in the last four days.

And more is expected. In Sydney, which has received 241mm of precipitation in the last 96 hours, another 50-100mm is expected over the next 24 hours, while south of the city it can reach up to 300mm.

“I cannot think of any time in the history of our state where we have had such extreme weather conditions shortly after in the midst of a pandemic,” Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian said during a news conference Monday.

During the 17 hours since Sunday morning, a maximum of 214 mm of precipitation was recorded in the state.

– I’ve never seen a rain like this. I have worked with several floods, and this is the biggest of all, says Shane Cribb, head of the SES rescue service in New South Wales for the ABC channel, writes NTB.

Worst since 1961

18,000 people have been evacuated, the majority along the coast. In addition, 38 areas have been declared natural disasters.

But also inland, around 3,000 have been evacuated. To the west of Sydney, the rivers have reached a flood level not seen since 1961. This is because the Warragamba Dam, which provides most of the city’s drinking water, is overflowing and overflowing, writes NTB.

On Monday afternoon, several of the inland areas were cleared for security and about 1,000 are able to return to their homes, writes the Sydney Morning Herald.

Port Macquaire (marked on the map) and the surrounding areas are the hardest hit.

– I have lived here for 25 years and have never seen anything like it. Now it’s calm before the storm, the worst is yet to come. Cleaning up after this will be the hardest job, Tarrent Lakeman of Port Maquire tells the Sydney Morning Herald.

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Extreme weather is expected to move south from the Port Macquaire area and south of Sydney on Monday.

“Fortunately, the worst weather will have passed on Wednesday,” meteorologist Adam Morgan told ABC.

Lasts 18 months

The flood is the third catastrophe to hit the state of New South Wales in 18 months. The state was hit hard by wildfires in 2019 and early 2020.

Record heat and record drought sparked record wildfires in Australia.

In New South Wales, some 49,000 square kilometers were affected by wildfires.

As wildfires continued to boil across the state, a new threat loomed. On January 25, the first case of the coronavirus was registered in the country.

In mid-March, the country closed its borders and introduced strict crown measures. After a ten week and month blockade of coronary restrictions, life in Sydney and New South Wales has slowly but surely returned to normal. Only one case of infection has been recorded outside quarantine hotels in Sydney since January 18.

Last week they eased the restrictions again, at the same time that the rain really made its entrance …