Tasmania and eastern parts of Victoria are bracing for heavy rain, flash flooding and damaging winds, as the east coast low which left parts of Queensland and New South Wales battered after the weekend moves south.
East Gippsland, in Victoria, and Tasmania are expected to bear the brunt of the wild weather today, with heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres an hour expected in some areas.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is warning of flash flooding risks across Tasmania’s Central North, North East, East Coast and South East and parts of the North West Coast, Central Plateau and Midlands districts.
Rivers in Tasmania’s north and north-west are rising faster than anticipated after heavy downpours, raising the risk of flooding around Kimberley, Railton, Latrobe and Forth, and the Emu River at Wivenhoe has burst its banks.
The weather bureau said the rainfall total at Fisher River, in the Mersey River catchment, has surpassed 350 millimeteres in the past 48 hours.
Weather forecasters said the Mersey River basin is at most risk of major flooding and it is expected the rivers will continue to rise over the next 12 hours.
People are being told to prepare for possible power outages and urged to prepare their properties for the coming deluge.
BoM severe weather forecaster Michael Laczko said a moist north-easterly airstream had caused big swells.
“These conditions are concerning because they are likely to cause dangerous surf conditions, and some significant coastal erosion and generally make the east coast a dangerous and unpredictable place to be on the water,” he said.
In Victoria, there is a severe weather warning in place for East Gippsland, with heavy rain and flash flooding possible.
There are flood warnings in place for the Cann, Genoa, and Snowy rivers.
Conditions are expected to ease this afternoon.
New South Wales, Queensland mop up from storm
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) cancelled the severe weather warning for New South Wales, but flood warnings remain in place for many rivers around the state, including the Georges River, in Sydney’s south-west.
Residents were evacuated overnight after houses, a block of units, and the beach club at Collaroy were damaged by wild surf caused by the storm.
One house lost its swimming pool, with the in-ground pool slipping about five metres out to sea. A number of properties have been damaged with backyards washed away, police said.
Last night, a number of sinkholes opened up along the foreshore and emergency services worked into the night to save the homes. Residents who live in the threatened properties have been evacuated.
Sydney resident David told ABC 702 Sydney the erosion was immense at Collaroy Beach.
“There is no beach at Collaroy,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be calling it Collaroy beach anymore, I’d be calling it Collaroy Point.
“The waves are hitting right, if you can imagine, putting a house right on the edge of the beach.”
SES spokesman James Morris said emergency services were yet to determine the full extent of the damage.
A high tide at 8:30pm on Sunday, coinciding with the storm, came in at up to 20 centimetres higher than Saturday, and was the highest tide of the year.
In Sydney’s west and south-west, residents have been evacuated from Chipping Norton, Milperra, and Picton due to flooding and several roads in the area are closed.
A large numbers of main roads, including across the Sydney metropolitan area, are not in use.
Power is slowly being returned across New South Wales, after more than 30,000 homes experienced outages caused by the weather.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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