Weather update Sunday 13 December 2020

Published on 13 December 2020

Despite the rain easing there are further forecasts of heavy falls across the Byron Shire later on Sunday and into Monday.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds, heavy rainfall, abnormally high tides and damaging surf for the Northern Rivers including the Byron Shire.

The BOM also has issued a minor flood warning for Billinudgel and Mullumbimby after heavy rainfall in the catchment on Saturday.

A total of 231mm of rain was recorded at Mullumbimby from 9am Saturday to 4am Sunday.

The BOM said the river level along Marshalls Creek at Billinudgel peaked around 1.6m at 5:00am today.

Further heavy falls are forecast later today and into Monday which could see rises in flood levels at Mullumbimby and Billinudgel.

A hazardous surf warning for the Byron coast is in place and this is expected to cause further erosion on beaches at Byron Bay.

Tallow Creek at Suffolk Park has opened to the ocean naturally.

The sand bar at the entrance to Belongil Creek was scraped down on Friday to encourage the creek to open but this did not happen.

Council staff are assessing the creek entrance at low tide today and may attempt to scrape it further to get it to open to the ocean to reduce flooding in the Belongil catchment. 

Council staff are rostered on 24hrs across the weekend and are monitoring drainage systems and clearing blockages.  People who see blocked drains are asked to contact Council’s emergency after hours number -  6622 7022.

Byron Shire residents are asked to keep an eye on warnings from the BOM and the State Emergency Service. 

The new Byron Shire Emergency Dashboard has direct links to these agencies and people should bookmark the website emergency.byron.nsw.gov.au.

It will have the latest information from the SES and BOM websites as well as their Facebook feeds.

For help during floods and storms people should call the SES on 132 500.

Byron Shire Emergency Dashboard

The Byron Shire Emergency Dashboard has direct links to the latest information from the BOM, SES, Essential Energy and other agencies.  People are asked to save emergency.byron.nsw.gov.au as a bookmark as a quick and easy way to find information about weather, flooding and roads.

Road closures

Some roads are flooded and will quickly be affected by further rainfall.  People can find information at emergency.byron.nsw.gov.au or www.myroadinfo.com.au.

To report local road closures or trees and debris on roads call Council’s emergency after hours number 6622 7022.

For help during floods and storms – call the SES on 132 500

People needing help during floods and storms should call the SES on 132 500. 

Weather updates

The latest information from the BOM is available at www.bom.gov.au or emergency.byron.nsw.gov.au.

Emergency radio station

The Emergency broadcaster for the Byron Shire is ABC North Coast – 94.5FM or 720AM (Murwillumbah area).

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