NSW residents have been warned grocery bills may rise in coming weeks as the weather event that has swept across the state continues its journey south.
Premier Dominic Perrottet will tour flood-hit areas on Tuesday as many affected regions across the state move into clean-up mode. He will visit Moree on Tuesday afternoon, where nearly 4000 people have been warned to evacuate.
More than 130 NSW SES warnings remain in place throughout the state as the scale of the damage is slowly being realised.
“The flood risk and the threat remains across NSW today and will do so for some days to come,” NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said in a flood update on Tuesday.
Major flooding is still occurring at multiple inland towns, including at Wee Waa, Warren, Moree, Gunnedah and Moama.
SES Commissioner Carlene York said Bega is one priority, but the agency is also dealing with major flooding in the Western Plains, South West Slopes and the Riverina regions.
More than 1000 volunteers are still out in the field, where they have conducted 32 flood rescues and responded to 664 requests for assistance in the past 24 hours.
As rivers across the mid and northern parts of the state begin to recede, weather experts have shifted their concerns towards a “hybrid cyclone” that looks set to form off the east coast of Victoria on Tuesday.
The system will bring heavy rain to eastern Victoria, southeast NSW and eastern Tasmania until at least Friday.
The hybrid cyclone is anticipated due to the collision of two low pressure-systems – one near the NSW-Victoria border and one off the north coast of NSW.
“These two lows are on course to clash into each other and combine to form a dynamic and dangerous system called a hybrid cyclone,” a statement from Weatherzone said.
Most of the extreme weather should occur off the coast, but the weather event is still expected to bring up to 200 millimetres of rain in areas between southeast NSW and eastern Tasmania over the next few days.
The system is not predicted to reach Sydney, which is forecast to have a solid stint of blue sky in coming days.
Following Tuesday’s rain, Sydneysiders can anticipate sunny skies and 27 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday.
The warmer temperatures and clear skies are expected to continue through the weekend, but rain is predicted to return to Sydney on Monday as a new weather system makes its way through the state.
Meanwhile, NSW residents have been told to expect less than ideal conditions at the supermarket shelves.
Speaking at Tuesday’s floods update, Cooke said the exact financial damage to the agricultural industry as a result of this flood event would be better known in the coming weeks.
“When you’ve got not just the actual harvest been impacted, but our ability to transport it and get it from the farm gate, right through processing and onto the supermarket shelf that those impacts are likely to be felt at one point or another,” the NSW Emergency Services Minister said.
“So we are very cognisant of the impact on farmers. We will need to continue assessing that damage over the weeks ahead as those floodwaters recede, and we will continue to stand by farmers through this time.”
Sydney received 21.2 millimetres of rain from 9am Monday to 9am Tuesday.
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