Aussie state to be smashed with 'worst weather event of the year'

Victorian residents are being warned of a "significant rain event" coming its way with heavy rain and damaging winds expected to sweep across the state from Wednesday.

Premier Daniel Andrews and emergency service representatives warned Victorians at a press conference on Tuesday to expect the "worst weather event of the year", with fears of flash flooding and plunging temperatures.

Tasmania and parts of NSW are also expected to cop a lashing as the wet weather continues to move across the east coast.

Kevin Parkin from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said the heavy rainfall will begin on Wednesday but the "intensity of the rain" will peak on Thursday.

The BoM is expecting widespread falls of 20mm to 50mm across much of Victoria, and higher falls of 60mm to 100mm around the dividing range and northern catchments – many of which are full or overflowing.

"This event is probably the most significant rain event widespread across the state this year, certainly the most significant in recent months," senior meteorologist Parkin said.

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Rain would likely peak on Thursday, along with wind gusts of up to 100km/h affecting elevated locations extending from the Grampians through to the Central Highlands and alpine peaks in the state's northeast, Mr Parkin said.

"We're concerned about damaging wind gusts affecting elevated locations," he added.

Concerns for major flooding

Watch-and-act flood warnings have been issued for several rivers, with the SES urging Victorians not to camp near streams and rivers this weekend and to avoid driving to northern parts of the state.

"With the weather systems that we're about to see over the next 24 to 48 hours, we are asking Victorians to be flood ready," SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said.

"In particular on Thursday, flash flooding is likely to be a risk in many parts of the state, including urban areas."

Premier Andrews said there are "well-arranged disaster recovery arrangements".

"We can be confident our emergency services have done the work they can to be as best prepared as they can be ," he said

Emergency services are advising Victorians to be on notice and keep watch for weather warnings.

Temperature to plummet across the country

Thursday will also see temperatures "well below average at this time of year", according to BoM meteorologist Jonathon How.

Victoria and Tasmania will drop 2-5 degrees below average, while parts of central Australia will plummet 5 to 15 degrees below average.

By Friday, the rain will sweep towards NSW and by Saturday we should start to see "general clearing".

Sydney breaks rainfall record wet weather continues

Last Thursday, Sydney endured its wettest year on record.

The previous annual record of 2194mm of rain, which had stood since 1950, was broken at 12.30pm on Thursday after 27.2mm of rain fell at Sydney's Observatory Hill Bureau of Meteorology station since 9am.

The bulk of the rain fell in about 90 minutes, beginning at 11am.

But NSW residents aren't in the clear just yet as the state is bracing for another wet week.

Major inundation is occurring along the Murrumbidgee with the Riverina town of Gundagai on high alert and flooding is also possible downstream at major regional centre Wagga Wagga.

Other areas of concern include Gunnedah and Wee Waa in northwestern NSW, Warren, west of Dubbo, and Forbes in the central west.

with AAP

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