NSW floods unmatched in scale and rainfall, but history shows there have been worse

It’s been called many things. A “once-in-100-year flood”, “unprecedented” and “chaotic”.

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate, a home floated down the Manning River on the Mid-North Coast and one person died after becoming trapped in their car in Sydney’s north-west.

So how do NSW’s most recent floods stack up against others in the state?

Experts say what makes this flood event a stand-out is the vast area affected.

“Its just the sheer scale of having it from the border all the way down south of Sydney and now heading west as well,” said Fiona Johnson,  a hydrologist from the water research centre at UNSW.

This map from the Bureau of…