Flood levels are set to keep rising, the SES has warned, with the peak expected for the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers in Greater Sydney’s west on Monday.
The SES issued an order for a section of Penrith on Sunday afternoon, for all properties bounded by Jamison Road, Surveyors Creek, Blaikie Road, the rear of Penrith Homemaker Centre, Western Motorway and Nepean River.
The Hawkesbury is also inundated, with residents in North Richmond ordered to evacuate, along with people in Pitt Town Bottoms, Cornwallis, Freemans Reach and Grono’s Point.
The Nepean River is not set to peak until midnight, with warnings it could top 12 metres.
Some streets in Penrith have already been submerged by the historic floods, with people seen traversing the roads in watercraft amid the evacuations this afternoon.
Hawkesbury residents have been warned the flooding in the area could eclipse the 1961 disaster, with a prediction the river could reach 15.6m by Monday afternoon and continue to rise.
A group of 10 people were this afternoon rescued by helicopter after being stranded by floodwaters in Freemans Reach.
Residents in Windsor gathered today to watch the waters rise to meet the town’s recently-built “flood-proof” bridge.
“It needs to be higher,” one resident remarked.
There were also worries the masses of debris carried along by the surging waters could damage the structure.
In other parts of the Hawkesbury, citrus farmers hurried to bring in what they could of their crops before the paddocks were swallowed up entirely.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said the Sydney floods are a once-in-50-years event, and warned that up to 4000 people could ultimately have to evacuate their homes.
This content first appear on 9news