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Friday, July 8, 2022
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HOUSES UNDER WATER EMILY FESZCZUK
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uburbs across Penrith are in clean-up mode after several days of extreme weather saw homes inundated with water, communities isolated, evacuation orders issued and roads closed. The Nepean River at Penrith peaked at 9.51 metres around 2am on Monday morning,
which surpassed the flood levels in March but failed to reach those of the 2021 event. Londonderry was among the areas worst hit, with houses damaged by flooding (above) and rescues taking place to bring isolated families to safety (below). State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers were also supported by Surf Life Saving NSW members for rescues right across the Penrith area.
“We had a rescue in Oxley Park on Monday night for five family members and we ended up pulling close to 30 people out of multiple houses that had water at least a metre and a half high,” said Michael Faccin from Penrith SES. While the water may have subsided now, the emergency is far from over. On Wednesday, Sydney Water issued a rare ‘conserve water’ alert, urging resi-
dents in most Penrith Local Government Area suburbs to limit their water use in the coming days, due to pressure on the Orchard Hills water filtration plant, caused by leaves, dirt and debris being swept into the raw water catchment. Emergency assistance payments are available for those impacted by the floods. Full story on » p. 6
TRAPPED RESIDENTS RESCUED
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