Warnings have been issued for major flooding in Queensland and NSW on Friday night and Saturday as heavy rain continues to inundate parts of eastern Australia.

The composite satellite and radar imagery below shows a broad arc of cloud and rain over Australia’s eastern states on Friday evening. This drenching weather pattern is being caused by an upper-level low interacting with a deep and steady feed of moisture-laden air.

This system has been causing rain and storms over parts of eastern Australia since the middle of the week, with some places collecting more than a month’s worth of rain in the last couple of days.

Despite already lingering over eastern Australia for a several days, more heavy rain will fall on Friday night into Saturday as the focus of the heaviest falls moves down the coast and ranges in central and southern NSW.

The images below show how much rain one computer model is predicting over central eastern and southeast NSW on Saturday morning, split into two six-hour periods.

Images: Forecast accumulated rain during the 6 hours ending at 6:00am AEDT (top) and midday AEDT (bottom) on Saturday, according to the ACCESS-C model.

Flood Warnings Issued

The heavy rain that has fallen over the last few days, combined with what’s expected to fall through Friday night into Saturday, is likely to cause widespread flooding in eastern Australia.

In Qld, more than 100 mm of rain has fallen in some areas of the state’s southern inland since Wednesday. This deluge has caused significant river level rises in the Warrego River Basin, with major flooding likely to occur at Charleville on Friday night into Saturday morning.

Numerous flood warnings were also extending across southern Qld and NSW at 10:00 pm AEDT on Friday as thick clouds continued to dump heavy rain in some areas.

In NSW, moderate flood warnings have been issued for the Wollombi Brook in the Hunter region and the Georges River in Sydney, while a major flood warning is in place for the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers.

Severe weather warnings were also in place for heavy rain, damaging winds and damaging surf in parts of central and southeast NSW on Friday night.

Be sure to check the latest severe weather and flood warnings for the most up-to-date information on this evolving weather event.