Wild weather is lashing parts of the country today. Heavy rainfall and damaging winds have hit the top end as the monsoon sets in.
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00:00 As you can probably see behind me, the rain is abating.
00:05 However, just over here where there's grass that's been affected by water, that's because
00:09 of how high the water was at one point, actually closing off parts of Finn Road here, which
00:15 meant that small vehicles were unable to pass.
00:17 That's thankfully receded, but there is still minor flooding just south of here towards
00:22 Adelaide River, about an hour south of Darwin, where roads there are being impacted to a
00:27 degree.
00:28 There's also a Watch and Act flood warning in place for parts of the north-western Northern
00:33 Territory around communities like Wattair, where there's been more than 500 mils of rain
00:38 since the weekend.
00:39 So huge dumps of rain.
00:42 Thankfully there's been no evacuations and no significant damage to property as reported.
00:46 A few trees have been blown down and we've seen some sinkholes even on the roads we've
00:51 travelled around today, as has been reported over the weekend as well.
00:56 Also, some people are enjoying the cooler weather.
00:58 It has been a really unseasonably hot and prolonged build-up season, but now that the
01:03 monsoons come, a cooler change has arrived here.
01:06 Alright, so what's the weather likely to do in the coming days, Miles?
01:12 Well there's this tropical low that's moving inland and southward, south of Darwin, and
01:17 it will continue to travel there.
01:19 It's likely to impact towns like Catherine and Elliot.
01:22 Catherine's about three hours south of Darwin, Elliot seven hours, so there will still be
01:27 significant rain right up until the weekend.
01:30 And there's falls estimated in parts of the Top End today of around 250 mils in isolated
01:37 areas.
01:38 That's prompted Chief Minister Eva Lawler to warn Territorians to be alert but not alarmed.
01:44 Here she was earlier today.
01:46 It's those clear messages that we have, and all of us in the Territory, about making sure
01:50 you have those cycling kits, all those emergency kits, so have you got your important papers
01:56 there, what have you got, your medications, those sorts of things.
01:59 So I think the people that are in that Kalkaringi area, I mean they experienced flooding last
02:04 year, they would be very much aware of what they need to do and being very heightened
02:09 around that.
02:13 And so Eva Lawler there saying that people are familiar with these kind of conditions.
02:17 We do typically get monsoons and huge dumps of rain across the Top End and again to have
02:22 preparations in place should things complicate, but at this stage no major evacuations underway,
02:28 so relatively stable here, Ros.
02:31 To Helena now in Sydney.
02:33 Helena, what's been happening in New South Wales over the past day?
02:36 Well Ros, over the past 24 hours the State Emergency Service has received over 700 calls
02:43 for help and responded to 460 of those, and that includes things like fallen trees, leaking
02:50 roofs and other storm-related damage.
02:53 At Ballina, three people had to be rescued after their vehicles got caught up in floodwaters.
02:58 At Castle Hill in Sydney, a large tree fell onto a home, causing significant damage.
03:04 As you can see, it's raining here in Sydney's east at the moment, but the State Emergency
03:08 Service is warning that it's really the state's north that needs to brace for some severe
03:12 weather today.
03:13 Up to 200mm of rain is expected in parts of the state's mid-north coast and northern rivers
03:20 region.
03:21 Most of it will be in the later afternoon and evening tonight, though people in those
03:26 areas are being warned to brace for flash flooding.
03:29 Now with the school holidays still going, the State Emergency Service is really emphasising
03:34 that people need to stay mindful of the fact that flash flooding occurs extremely quickly
03:39 and without warning.
03:40 So holidaymakers who are staying near rivers and lakes really need to be careful and keep
03:45 in mind if they really need to be staying in more low-lying areas.
03:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]