03:35 Jun 09 2007
Times Read: 760
THE wild weather that has forced Premier Morris Iemma to declare a natural disaster in the state's Hunter and Central Coast regions.
Mr Iemma declared the natural disaster for the Hunter and Central Coast regions after severe storms over the past 24 hours caused widespread damage.
The Premier said the declaration of a natural disaster area triggers a range of assistance for individual residents, business owners and councils whose properties have been damaged by the strong winds, rain and flooding.
"Importantly, the declaration of a natural disaster ensures councils are reimbursed for the cost of repairing public infrastructure, including local roads and bridges damaged by fast-flowing floodwaters and debris," Mr Iemma said in a statement.
The premier said he had also invoked the state employment protection provisions to cover emergency services volunteers who help those affected by the wild storms.
Mr Iemma said the State Emergency Service (SES) has received thousands of calls for assistance so far from people who have suffered damage across the Hunter, Mid North Coast, Central Coast and Sydney.
Flooding, evacuations, strandings, blackouts, landslides, commuter and traffic chaos and thousands of calls to emergency services have all been overshadowed by the grave concern for a family missing on the Central Coast.
Torrential rain has prevented rescuers from searching for the family of five missing after a road collapsed yesterday, sending their car crashing into a massive subsidence and into a flooded creek.
The family's sedan was found in the treacherous floodwaters 100 metres down the swollen creek near Gosford, but the occupants have not been found, police said.
The car went crashing down the embankment when part of the Old Pacific Highway near Somersby collapsed under it, creating a gorge many metres deep and 10 metres wide across the roadway.
Police say two adults and three children, aged two, three, and nine, are missing from the car, and heavy rain has prevented rescuers from searching for the family.
Meanwhile, the bodies of an elderly couple whose four-wheel-drive was swept off a bridge at Clarence Town, near Dungog, in the Hunter Valley, yesterday have been found.
Police say a man found the bodies on his property downstream from the bridge late last night.
Mr Iemma declared the natural disaster for the Hunter and Central Coast regions after severe storms over the past 24 hours caused widespread damage.
Mr Iemma said the declaration of a natural disaster area triggers a range of assistance for individual residents, business owners and councils whose properties have been damaged by the strong winds, rain and flooding.
"Importantly, the declaration of a natural disaster ensures councils are reimbursed for the cost of repairing public infrastructure, including local roads and bridges damaged by fast-flowing floodwaters and debris," Mr Iemma said in a statement.
The premier said he had also invoked the state employment protection provisions to cover emergency services volunteers who help those affected by the wild storms.
Mr Iemma said the State Emergency Service (SES) has received thousands of calls for assistance so far from people who have suffered damage across the Hunter, Mid North Coast, Central Coast and Sydney.
At least 200,000 people were without power overnight in areas from the Hunter Valley to Sydney.
The ACT State Emergency Service has said it will send a 21-person task force today to help NSW SES volunteers deal with storm and flood damage over the long weekend.
At least 200 people were evacuated in the Newcastle area overnight because of flash flooding.
Phil Campbell of the Hunter Region SES said the people were being taken to evacuation centres, with volunteers focusing on helping the most vulnerable.
Police said 500 pupils had to spend the night at St Peters College at Tuggerah after flood waters cut access to their school.
A landslide forced the closure of the Newcastle and Central Coast rail line between Hornsby and Gosford for about five hours from 6pm yesterday, stranding scores of commuters at Hornsby.
A RailCorp spokeswoman said the line reopened temporarily at about 11pm, until a large tree fell across the tracks and closed the line again.
There were still reports early this morning of commuters being stranded.
In Sydney, ferry and JetCat services to and from Manly have been suspended for a second day today due to unsafe conditions on the harbour.
A severe weather warning issued by the Bureau of Meteorology remains current for people in the Central Tablelands, Hunter, Illawarra, Sydney metropolitan and South Coast regions.
The damaging winds, flash flooding, and wild surf with waves exceeding five metres that started on Thursday night are forecast to continue today as the deep low-pressure system off Newcastle moves slowly westwards.
Falls of over 150mm were reported yesterday in the Hunter with widespread flash flooding.
Winds today are expected to average over 65 km/h with peak wind gusts to exceed 90 km/h in the Hunter, Sydney metropolitan and Illawarra, particularly near the coast.
COMMENTS
-