‘Extraordinary’ rains force thousands of residents to evacuate Sydney

The capital of the state of New South Wales has been swept by exceptional rains since Friday. Sunday, faced with rising waters in the city, 30,000 residents were forced to evacuate sydney. East of australia is indeed affected by precipitation diluvians from a depression that runs along the coast.

Within two days, services weather report reported up to 595mm of water at Brogers and 521mm at Wattamolla. A few kilometers away, the city of Sydney recorded 150 mm of rain, and this accumulation is expected to rise to 200 or even 300 mm in the coming days, the equivalent of six months of precipitation. The city has already broken its annual rainfall record, as of early July: 1,696mm, the wettest year on record for Sydney since records began in 1859, well beating the previous record of 1,569mm recorded in 1890.

La Niña and global warming responsible for these exceptional rains

The Warragamba dam, located west of Sydney, began to overflow on Sunday and further rains are forecast throughout the week. The floods come as New South Wales is barely recovering from the same phenomenon occurred last March. These historic rains are most likely linked to the La Nina phenomenon which extends for the second consecutive year and which will perhaps persist in 2023. This anomaly Pacific water temperature has consequences on the climate Australian, and its rainfall potential has probably been multiplied by the global warming In progress.