Sydney set to record wettest year in 164 years with heavy rainfall

Sydney is poised to record its wettest year in 164 years as authorities braced for major floods in Australia's east, with more heavy downpours expected to fall over the next three days.

By Thursday morning, Sydney had received 2,157 mm 85 inches of rain, just shy of the 2,194 mm record set in 1950, official data showed.

The record is likely to fall late Friday night and into Saturday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology BoM forecaster Jonathan How, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the fifth time since records began in 1858 that the country's largest city has exceeded 2,000 mm in a year.

Australia's east coast has been in the grip of a multi-year rain event due to the La Ni a weather phenomenon that has typically been associated with increased rainfall that has caused floods in Sydney suburbs three times in the past two years and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

With a wild weather system expected to dump heavy rains over the weekend across a wide area of Australia, authorities warned Sydney residents to watch for flash flooding and stay away from flooded roads.

Many dams and rivers are already at full capacity. The New South Wales state government has committed to raising the height of the wall at Sydney's Warragamba Dam, which supplies 80% of the city's water, to prevent future floods.

Some of the state s rural inland towns are already flooded with television footage showing residents moving farm animals to higher grounds and damaged roads.

More downpours are forecast for the rest of 2022 due to the rare occurrence of a third straight La Ni a weather event.

The risk of flooding increases as BoM s How said that we are still in this active La Ni a period and we can expect more rainfall in the late spring and summer.