The Illawarra region of NSW has copped an absolute bucketing of rain, with more than 20 centimetres of rain falling in the last 24 hours. The wild weather has flooded roads, cut off main arteries into the region, and a young boy has died after going missing in floodwaters.
The Illawarra has been belted with the most intense rain in the country today. An observation station at Macquarie Pass recorded 207mm of rain in 24 hours. Macquarie Pass is the main pathway into the region from the Southern Highlands area, and the narrow, steep, winding mountain road looked like this on Thursday:
Elsewhere in the region, Port Kembla got 103mm, Dapto 135mm, and Kiama 147mm. The flooding saw students trapped inside schools, creeks and rivers swollen to bursting point, roads and entire neighbourhoods flooded, and suburbs cut off due to water over roads.
The South Coast train line was cut south of Wollongong, roads were closed, and weekend sporting fixtures were straight up cancelled.
The State Emergency Service have had to carry out lots of rescues, many of cars which have been driven into deep flood waters. They're needing rubber dinghies to get around.
The SES have a simple message: don't drive through flood water.
But some made the best of a bad situation, with a local fishing crew wetting a line at their front door:
Stay safe out there, folks.
Illawarra flooding
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