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‘Nearly 400’ call for help

RELENTLESS rain over the past five days has caused havoc.

Bureau of Meteorology gauges located at Bankstown Airport and Canterbury Racecourse, each recorded more than 220mm between Friday and Monday alone.
The big wet also kept volunteers from both the Bankstown and Canterbury State Emergency Service (SES) units busy responding to nearly 400 calls between them about leaky roofs, fallen trees and localised flooding.
Bankstown SES Unit commander David Niven said about 150 calls were related to a tornado on Saturday morning which cut a swathe of damage through Sefton, Villawood and Chester Hill, ripping tiles of dozens of roofs and embedding a trampoline into the wall of one home, and knocking out power.
He said SES volunteers also door-knocked nearly 200 properties in low lying areas along the Georges River which reached a minor flood level of two metres around midnight on Saturday.
Bankstown’s flood rescue operators also picked up a driver from the flooded Ashford Avenue at Milperra, and in a separate incident, saved a very lucky dog named Sammy who got caught in floodwaters at Penrith, taking him to safety where he got “lots of pats and attention”.

“Let Sammy’s misadventure be a lesson for everyone to never ride, walk or drive through floodwaters,” Mr Niven said.
A Recovery Guide with advice to Canterbury Bankstown residents is also available on the Bankstown SES Facebook page.
Canterbury SES unit commander Lenore Nelson said that while they’ve had no local flood rescues, four of their flood rescue operators have been working in the Rossmore and Windsor areas.
“They have responded to 15 flood rescues since Saturday,” she said.
“Bexley Road was also closed for eight hours on Saturday due to flooding with two metres of water over the road level.”