Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
An evacuation order has been issued for Traralgon due to wild weather which has caused widespread flooding in Gippsland, damaged homes, left almost 200,000 homes without power and prompted almost 4,000 calls to the State Emergency service overnight.
About 220 low-lying properties in Traralgon, 160km east of Melbourne, are under direct threat of inundation from Traralgon Creek, and an evacuation centre has been set up in the basketball stadium, with residents urged to leave now.
Empty car belonging to Adele Morrison, 78, was pulled from swollen river in March during torrential rain on mid-north coast
A body believed to be an elderly New South Wales woman whose empty car was pulled from flood waters has been found washed up on a riverbank.
Adele Morrison, 78, was last seen at a shopping centre in Gloucester after leaving home in Port Macquarie on 16 March, as a one-in-100-year flood event began on the mid-north NSW coast.
Evacuation orders remain in place for seven north-west Sydney towns impacted by last week’s flooding as New South Wales’s cleanup effort begins in earnest.
The State Emergency Service said evacuated residents of Pitt Town North, Pitt Town Bottoms, Cornwallis, North Richmond, Agnes Banks, Gronos Point and Freemans Reach should not return until authorities give the all-clear.
PM issues Facebook statement saying he ‘deeply regrets’ raising a sexual harassment claim in response to question from journalist; forecast improves on east coast but flood waters still pose risk. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
The bells have rung for the House sitting - but day three of estimates is upon us as well.
The Treasury secretary is up from nowish, if you want to tune in
The two News Corp major city tabloids have made their displeasure with Scott Morrison for attacking a Sky News journalist during his press conference yesterday abundantly clear this morning.
Despite the mea culpa from the PM late yesterday the Herald Sun and the Daily Telegraph carry very negative front pages and unflattering mocking headlines: “Sco-woe” and “Sco-D’oh”
School closures as more rain, flooding expected on mid-north coast; major flooding expected along the Hawkesbury River in western Sydney, as well as the Macleay River at Kempsey and Smithtown, and the Hastings River. Follow the latest news
Morrison warned the damage from the floods could be significant.
This is an ongoing situation that is evolving and is extremely dangerous. And we are meeting regularly to be updated on the events and to direct our response. We are grateful at this point that no lives have been lost so far.
But weakened foundations for buildings, of roads and trees, they all create risk as do downed power lines and rising water levels. So we ask all Australians in these affected areas to please use caution. Check and on your neighbours and those who you know that are alone.
As is appropriate this time, many members supporting their communities are not here in this place. Another deputy premised and the Minister for government services and other ministers are also reaching out and working closely with the mayors and other communities ensuring they receive every support. This will be a very difficult week for hundreds of thousands of Australians if not more as we face the immediacy of the floods, and there will be many difficult months ahead as the cleanup and recovery from this natural disaster gets under way.
We have very competent agencies and our state governments stopping they are very good at dealing with these types of emergencies. They are doing a tremendous job right now and theAustralian government is standing together with them in ensuring they can be delivering on this most urgent of times. But above all, we rely on Australians themselves. They have shown, as we came together, we can get through these things when we work together, and that is what we will do in the hours, days, weeks and months ahead, responding to this disaster like those before and then rebuilding and recovering afterwards.
Prime minister Scott Morrison is addressing parliament about the floods.
Mr Speaker, Australia is being tested once again. The east coast of Australia, predominantly New South Wales but also in south-east Queensland, has experienced an extraordinary deluge over recent days. Rains are expected for at least the next 24 and 48 hours.
In south-east Queensland, there has been intense rainfall with more than 300 SES requests for assistance, over the 24 hours until this morning with crews working through the night.
I want to acknowledge and pay tribute and say thank you on behalf of all of us here in this place Mr Speaker for the extraordinary efforts of our volunteers and the emergency services and responding to this terrible event. And there is a serious risk still ahead. Heavy rainfall is likely to continue up much of the eastern half of New South Wales and into southern Queensland today and tomorrow. Heavy falls will also develop over northern and central inland parts of New South Wales tomorrow, bringing the risk of flash and significant river flooding to several additional catchments. A different low pressure system is also expected to form off the southern New South Wales coast, bringing rainfall they are also.
Thankfully, the current forecast has conditions easing statewide from early Wednesday but we will watch and see. Mr Speaker, I want to assure residents and all storm and flood affected areas that all parts of government are working closely together.
We understand that this is likely to be for recovery support and cleanup operations including personnel, vehicles and machinery stopping the premier and they were discussing that over the weekend. We have also been just advised now in discussions on the potential for heavy lift aerial support but this is also still to be scoped.
And so we shall leave it there for today, and for the week. Here’s what went down today:
The NSW Government has announced an extension of the disaster recovery assistance, adding 18 LGA’s to the initial 16 LGAs announced yesterday.
In a statement, NSW MP David Elliott said the storms had already done extensive damage, and that with the weather not scheduled to ease until Wednesday, the full extent of the damage is still not known.
Severe winds, relentless rainfall and widespread flooding has damaged roads and properties, businesses and public assets right across New South Wales
Through the DRFA, a range of practical assistance measures are now available to help people get back on their feet and support councils with the clean-up and repairs to infrastructure.
City battered by rain as storms across the state trigger floods, a mini-tornado in Chester Hill and hamper Covid vaccine deliveries
Swathes of suburban Sydney were on alert for dangerous flooding after the city’s main dam spilled over on Saturday, with severe storms across New South Wales also triggering a mini-tornado, evacuations, and hampering coronavirus vaccine delivery.
Warragamba Dam spilled over at about 3pm on Saturday and daily rainfall records for parts of the mid north coast for March were broken by more than 100mm.
Melbourne quarantine hotel worker tests positive to virus; NSW issues alert over returned traveller case. This blog is now closed.
That’s where we will leave the live blog for Monday. Here’s what you might have missed today:
AAP has the latest on Covid restrictions in Western Australia:
Face masks are mandatory for teachers and secondary students, a precaution that’s part of transition arrangements for Perth and Peel, after the five-day lockdown sparked by a hotel quarantine security guard’s infection.
Late February Pfizer vaccine rollout planned. Meanwhile, South Australian authorities warn residents as bushfires erupt in Adelaide Hills. Follow all the latest updates, live
A truck carrying toilet paper has burst into flames, causing traffic chaos on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway.
It is still unclear what caused the fire, but firefighters are on the scene, attempting to bring the fire under control.
The truck exploding into flames on the Eastern Freeway, Melbourne near the Elgar Rd exit. I saw this while passing by and hope no one is hurt. The fire is now out but traffic is banked up on the city-bound lane. A terrible incident on a 40c day. #truckOnFireMelbourneFreewaypic.twitter.com/tj5MANXAQh
The Bureau of Meteorology has said the heatwave is over in Melbourne and is easing in South Australia, with rain and thunderstorms expected later this evening.
Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the BoM, warned that the focus will shift to New South Wales tomorrow, with temperatures forecast to get near 40C in Western Sydney, with the city expecting to reach 35C.
But by tomorrow night the cool change will have moved across all of south-eastern Australia and temperatures will return to near seasonal averages for the rest of the week.
Cyclone Kimi could rise to a category two system as residents in far north told to bunker down
A tropical cyclone has formed off the coast of far-north Queensland, with residents told to prepare to bunker down for gale-force winds and heavy rain.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Sunday declared the formation of tropical cyclone Kimi – a category one system – about 140km north-east of Cooktown.
Contract tracers work to find source of five coronavirus cases as more hotspots named outside northern beaches. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
State breaks 12-day streak with no local transmission as Sydney airport driver test positive and two mystery cases emerge in the northern beaches. Follow latest updates
Late morning the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, will release the mid-year economic and fiscal update which is expected to show that the budget deficit will be less than $200bn due to a $11bn saving on jobkeeper and rising iron ore prices boosting revenue.
Asked about the $11bn jobkeeper saving, the finance minister Simon Birmingham told Channel Nine:”Look, it is really encouraging to see the strength of the recovery in the Australian economy. Now, there is still a long way to go but we’ve seen more than 650,000 jobs created across Australia in recent months. More Australians back in work, fewer Australians on JobKeeper - this is a trend that we want to see continue but we know that there are always threats present.
The Victorian Ombudsman has tabled an investigation into the detention and treatment of public housing residents at the onset of the second wave in the state.
Ombudsman's Investigation into the detention and treatment of public housing residents arising from a COVID-19 'hard lockdown' in July 2020 tabled today, a non-sitting day https://t.co/cXTFf4wPIy#springst
A severe weather warning has been issued for Wagga and much of the Riverina for flash flooding this afternoon.
Severe thunderstorms have been forecast for the entire region, all the way from Hay in the west, right across to the east coast, and from the Queensland border down to Tumbarumba.
⚡SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING⚡ for HEAVY RAINFALL. Warning current for much of central and eastern NSW and the ACT. 2hr Obs: 92mm @ Lismore. 30min Obs: 26mm @ Glen Alice, 25mm at Mt.Werong & 22mm @ Lake Burley Griffin. ⚠️Warnings: https://t.co/30woSZ6O2x#ifitsfloodedforgetitpic.twitter.com/L8OXMiSlAz
Victoria police commissioner Shane Patton has sought to differentiate between the police approach during the Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne in early June and anti-lockdown protests that were broken up during the second wave, with many more fined.
Patton told a Victorian parliament Covid-19 committee on Wednesday that at the time of the BLM protest, the spread of Covid was not as big as it was later on in the second wave, and there weren’t the severe restrictions at the time that were seen later – in June, groups of up to 20 people could assemble.
We eventually made a decision to reluctantly allow that Black Lives Matter to go ahead, because of the emotion that was in the community, because of the emotion that was being displayed across the world.
Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s cabinet has agreed to a proposal for a trans-Tasman travel bubble; storms forecast to continue in parts of south-east Queensland and northern NSW. Follow the latest updates
If you were hoping to grab some of the Victorian government’s vouchers for travelling into regional Victoria for a holiday, you have missed out on the second round, AAP reports 30,000 vouchers sold in 31 minutes.
An extra 30,000 Regional Travel Voucher Scheme vouchers, worth $200 apiece, were snapped up within 31 minutes of becoming available from midday on Monday via a new-look state government webpage.
AAP reports the extreme weather in northern NSW and southeast Queensland will continue to intensify overnight.
Sites in NSW’s Northern Rivers District had about 400mm of rain in just a few days, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding told reporters on Monday.
Potentially serious flooding and dangerous surf forecast for Queensland and northern NSW as heavy rain and damaging winds pound coast
Wild storms battering the Queensland and New South Wales coastline are expected to worsen later on Monday, and authorities have warned the heavy rain and strong winds could be “similar to a category one cyclone”.
Emergency services in both states have received thousands of calls for help since Saturday, as the conditions cause flash flooding and dangerous waves that have washed away large sections of beachfront.
Authorities urge people to brace for more heavy rain, gales and dangerous surf as some areas record more than 300mm of rain since Saturday
Heavy rain across south-east Queensland and the north of New South Wales has prompted flood warnings as authorities urge motorists not to drive into floodwaters.
Some areas, in the Gold Coast hinterland and northern NSW border, have recorded more than 300mm of rain since Saturday.
Towns west of Brisbane to swelter over next three days as western NSW continues to suffer and Sydney’s temperatures forecast to rise again on Tuesday
Queenslanders are in for a record-breaking hot day on Monday as Sydneysiders get a short-lived reprieve from the heat.
Dean Narramore, a senior forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, says much of southern Queensland will be experiencing an “extreme” heatwave over next three days.