The predicted rain didn’t seem quite so heavy here during today. Most of the storm system hit a bit further south. Toens just south of Sydney recorded over 300 mm of rain in 24 hours, and some southern suburbs of Sydney recorded over 250 mm, but near me we only got 94 mm in the 24-hour reporting period. Tomorrow is forecast to be worse, though, as the system slowly moves north over the city proper.
Already parts of the outer suburbs are flooding, and evacuation orders are in place along some of the rivers. Warragamba Dam, Sydney’s main reservoir, began spilling around midnight last night, dumping more water into the downstream river system. Last time (back in April) it took days of rain to fill the dam before it began spilling. This time it was already still so full that just a day of rain did it. A few years ago, that downstream river had a new bridge built over it, one the Government said would be “flood-proof” and would never have to close, unlike the old bridge. Well, that new bridge has flooded twice back in April, and is about to go under again.
In April we had two separate “once in 100 years” level flood events within a few weeks. Now we have another one, and this one is on track to be the worst of the three.
I’m safe where I am – I don’t live in a low-lying area. Although I’m half expecting our building’s basement garage to flood again.
In other news, I worked on Darths & Droids a bit today, did some housecleaning, and just stayed inside out of the rain and tried to stay warm. Oh, and my sourdough starter is looking fully revitalised after three days of feeding, and I baked a new loaf of bread today for the first time since returning from overseas. I added sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds to this one; the first time I’ve tried a seeded loaf.
Oh, and I used the very first lime off our dwarf lime tree that we bought a few yers ago! It fruited for the first time this year, and we have three small limes. I added some fresh juice to a Thai red curry that I cooked for dinner. Growing your own ingredients is very satisfying.
New content today: