Australia news live: thousands urged to evacuate in Sydney amid deluge, nation passes 10,000 Covid deaths

East coast low forms; Warragamba dam spilling

Emergency services minister Steph Cooke says New South Wales is facing “dangers on multiple fronts” and encouraged residents in greater Sydney to evacuate early.

Cooke said an east coast low has formed this morning and is expected to continue until Tuesday which is producing excessive rainfall rates.

“This means even more torrential rain,” Cook said. “It means a strong, damaging winds, and it means coastal erosion. For Sydney, the Central Coast and the south coast. And the Illawarra.

“We are now facing dangers on multiple fronts – flash flooding, riverine flooding and coastal erosion. So, if you live anywhere between Newcastle and Batemans Bay, please don’t be caught unaware by the current weather situation. This is a life-threatening emergency situation.”

Cooke said the Warragamba dam began to spill at 2am this morning “well ahead of predictions”, with the State Emergency Service having responded to “more than 1,400 requests for assistance” in the last 24 hours.

Updated at 20.18 EDT

Cooke speaking again now saying that “it is really not the time to travel if you are in those area that are impacted” and authorities are expecting the worst of the weather system to hit over the next 24 hours.

“These weather events have rolled through our state consistently this year and I’d very much acknowledge the impact that they continue to have on our communities,” Cooke said.

Carlene York from New South Wales state emergency services advises people to take precautions – prepare evacuation bags now, pay attention to flood warnings and leave early if they are in an at-risk area.

Evacuation centres have been set up for people who need them and people are warned to be careful of falling trees and items from balconies.

Thunderstorm warning issued for Sydney

Golding warned of incoming thunderstorms developing which will increase the risk of flash flooding:

For the Sydney area, we can expect more heavy rain today, particularly out towards the Blue Mountains and the western Sydney area over the Hawkesbury-Nepean, and we can expect more heavy rainfall to affect the Central Coast and other parts of the Hunter district today.

Golding asked residents along the Nepean river to pay attention to warnings and listen to emergency services as the flood waters reach their peak.

And this your regular reminder not to drive into flood waters – and if you absolutely have to because it is a life-threatening emergency, wind down your windows first.

A car abandoned in floowaters in Lansvale in Sydney’s south-west.
A car abandoned in flood waters in Lansvale in Sydney’s south-west. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Updated at 20.23 EDT

Jane Golding from the Bureau of Meteorology is now giving an update on an “unfortunate rainfall event”, including rainfall measures and flood warnings.

Golding:

Over the last 24 hours alone, some locations – many locations – accent upwards of 200mm, and some along the Illawarra, close to 350mm.

The east coast low is continuing to develop as forecast and the forecast is for it to continue to develop and track slowly southwards and closer to the Hunter coast and to the Sydney coast over the next 24 hours.

The signs are it will remain in our region through until Tuesday before gradually shifting offshore some more.

Updated at 20.23 EDT

SES conduct 29 flood rescues in 24 hours

Cook:

In the same at 24 hours, they have conducted, with the support of our other emergency services organisations, have conducted 29 flood rescue. In the space of 24 hours, we have seen at 945 SES personnel stood up and working around the clock to respond to this current and unfolding emergency situation with this weather system.

Updated at 20.23 EDT

East coast low forms; Warragamba dam spilling

Emergency services minister Steph Cooke says New South Wales is facing “dangers on multiple fronts” and encouraged residents in greater Sydney to evacuate early.

Cooke said an east coast low has formed this morning and is expected to continue until Tuesday which is producing excessive rainfall rates.

“This means even more torrential rain,” Cook said. “It means a strong, damaging winds, and it means coastal erosion. For Sydney, the Central Coast and the south coast. And the Illawarra.

“We are now facing dangers on multiple fronts – flash flooding, riverine flooding and coastal erosion. So, if you live anywhere between Newcastle and Batemans Bay, please don’t be caught unaware by the current weather situation. This is a life-threatening emergency situation.”

Cooke said the Warragamba dam began to spill at 2am this morning “well ahead of predictions”, with the State Emergency Service having responded to “more than 1,400 requests for assistance” in the last 24 hours.

Updated at 20.18 EDT

Peter Hannam

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an update extending the area covered by its severe weather warning across western Sydney and up the NSW coast.

Rain totals in the 24 hours to 9am Sunday AEST reached 93mm for Sydney’s Observatory Hill, while Camden in the city’s south-west reached 156mm. Both Lucas Heights and the Holsworthy defence site received about 240mm.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued multiple warnings of severe weather and also flood warnings for the region.

All eyes are on the Warragamba dam as water levels continue to build to capacity – and beyond.

The rate at which it is filling is forcing calculations to be rerun and currently it is believed the rate will nudge 500Gl/day – or a quarter of the massive dam’s total capacity.

On Warragamba Dam: “At 7am the rate of spill was 240 gigalitres per day (GL/day), with inflow to the dam occurring at a rate of 380 GL/day. These figures will continue to rise steeply”. https://t.co/VlqOCwoFdY

— Stuart Khan (@stukhan) July 2, 2022

Warragamba’s spill continues to grow, and may exceed 400 gigalitres a day today. That’s 400,000,000,000 litres, or about a fifth of the dam’s total capacity. pic.twitter.com/nXJGBPeEVd

— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) July 2, 2022

In addition to the risk of a major flooding event – the third this year – that will put the lives and property of those living on the floodplain downriver at risk, the concern about the spill relates to timing: it began about half a day earlier than expected.

It is a reminder of how fast weather events can moved as climate change increasingly makes systems more energetic.

According to the CSIRO, climate change is expected to make heavy rainfall events more intense as warmer air can hold more water vapour. Every degree of global warming results in a 7% increase in atmospheric moisture.

Updated at 20.18 EDT

Australia passes 10,000 Covid-19 deaths

Australia has officially surpassed the grim milestone of 10,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Sunday.

New South Wales and Victoria reported a combined total of 24 deaths overnight, bringing the nation’s total to 10,008.

The number is expected to grow over Sunday as other states and territories report their numbers.

For more detail check out Guardian Australia’s reporting retracing the road to 10k.

Updated at 19.50 EDT

On abortion, Pocock says “we can’t take … hard-won gains for granted”:

As has been pointed out by many people – you can’t ban abortions, all you can do is ban access to safe abortions. And clearly the cost of abortions in Australia disproportionately affect vulnerable women in our communities and women who live in regional and rural Australia. I believe it should be covered by Medicare and the PBS.

On the recognition of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament:

We have got the oldest living cultures in the world here in Australia and we need that wisdom, leadership and connection to this incredible continent more than ever. To me, the Uluru Statement from the Heart is the most generous offering to all Australians and I back it in in its entirety.

And that’s a wrap!

Updated at 19.39 EDT

Allocation of parliamentary staff should be ‘decided by independent body’, Pocock says

On the staffing issue, which has been the first big division in the new parliament, Pocock says he “doesn’t feel like he is in a fight” but the cut will limit his ability to meet with constituents and review legislation as it comes in.

For me, the thing that this has highlighted is the allocation of staff should probably be decided by an independent body at an arm’s length and shouldn’t be decided by the prime minister of the day. I think you said earlier in the week, you know, this staffing shouldn’t be used to reward or punish anyone.

Updated at 19.40 EDT

The conversation now turns to a national integrity commission that the government has been consulting on. Karvelas is probing Pocock on his position. She asked whether Pocock supports a commission empowered to sack MPs through a code of conduct and a structure around that.

Pocock said he’d have concerns about an unelected body being able to dismiss elected officials.

I’m not a lawyer, but I’m guessing that there would be some constitutional hurdles with that one. But I can certainly look more into it, but as I said, it wouldn’t be, you know, an elected body. It’s an independent commission and I think actually being able to shine a light on corruption, to deal with it and then, you know, refer it to the police where needed.

Updated at 19.33 EDT

Conversation has now moved on to voluntary assisted dying legislation, which Pocock has advocated.

Pocock describes the lack of movement on this is a “longstanding injustice”.

Every state has now legislated on voluntary assisted dying. But when it comes to a vote at a federal level, this is not about legislating voluntary assisted dying, this is a question whether the territories should have the same right to debate and legislate on that.

Asked whether he wants the government to commit to a conscience vote on any legislation, Pocock says: “I don’t need to claim credit for this. I just want to see it done.”

Updated at 19.33 EDT