Full Flood

Sydney and the near north coast of NSW have been battered by heavy rain and severe storms these last few days. It was the closest thing to a fair dinkum cyclone that this part of Australia has experienced in living memory. The Blue Mountains only copped the edges of it but we still managed to accumulate some 280mm of rainfall in about two and a half days. Everywhere you go, streams have overflowed their banks and water is all over the place. I cannot recall a bigger rain event in the fifteen years I have lived up here.

Because the land is invariably sloped around here, water runs rapidly away rather than slowly inundating property but that means the waterfalls are in full force and I was determined to get a good look at one. Unfortunately the tracks are swampy, water related landslips have deposited large trees across access routes and many trails are too dangerous to negotiate.

Anyway I took my time, it was a bit of a struggle but I got to the Katoomba Cascades the long way round. They were in full flood. The old stream stepping blocks were underwater. Seats and tourist amenities normally on dry ground were isolated by fast flowing eddies. I had never seen the location quite like this before. The roar was deafening.

I know I have posted a few waterfalls lately but this one is at an entirely different location from the last two. If I didn't blip it right now it'd be pretty much back to normal in a day or two. Just to be different I thought I'd place a few trees in front of the fall for a sense of perspective..