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NSW SES crews attend sinkhole in eastern Sydney

Summary

NSW State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers have attended a large sinkhole in Dover Heights, diverting water from nearby properties in the rain overnight. Isolated heavy rainfall and a significant amount of runoff appears to have caused the sinkhole, which is about 10 metres wide on Ocean View Drive.

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NSW State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers have attended a large sinkhole in Dover Heights, diverting water from nearby properties in the rain overnight.

Isolated heavy rainfall and a significant amount of runoff appears to have caused the sinkhole, which is about 10 metres wide on Ocean View Drive.

NSW SES Waverley-Woollahra Deputy Unit Commander, Senior Group Officer Anthia Kollaras said five volunteers attended the scene about 9pm on Saturday.

“We were on scene until 1 o’clock this morning, using sandbags and a retaining wall to divert water away from properties,” Senior Group Officer Kollaras said.

“The hole was quite big, and part of the road had washed away. There was about a metre drop, and a lot of debris that was washing past a house, so it was important we prevented water ingress of nearby homes.”

NSW Police also attended to close the road, and Fire and Rescue NSW crews secured the scene.

This was one of more than 270 incidents NSW SES volunteers attended in the 24 hours to 8am on Sunday across the state.

NSW SES State Duty Commander, Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan said most incidents were in the southeastern region for leaking roofs, fallen trees and sandbagging property.

“Since the start of the weather event, we’ve responded to more than 415 incidents across the state and have had about 300 volunteers out helping their communities,” Assistant Commissioner Hogan said.

“There is still an active severe weather warning for the Illawarra and South Coast, where an additional 110 millimetres of rain is likely to fall today.

“Weather conditions will ease this evening with the rainfall forecast to move off the coast.”

Assistant Commissioner Hogan said NSW SES and Water NSW continue to monitor Warragamba Dam, any impacts of a spill have been taken into consideration with flood warnings.