By Kylie Stevens For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 00:07 GMT, 19 February 2019 | Updated: 00:07 GMT, 19 February 2019
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Residents in Sydney's second-largest CBD would have little warning to evacuate if the city was inundated with catastrophic flash flooding, an emergency service expert has warned.
If a severe super-cell storm was to hit Parramatta in the city's west without notice, residents would have just nine minutes to evacuate before floodwaters swamp the city's centre.
That warning could be extended to two hours in the best case scenarios where imminent flooding can be predicted, according to NSW State Emergency Risk Reduction and Avoidance Senior Manager George Jeoffreys.
Experts fear residents would have little time to evacuate if Parramatta was hit with catastrophic flash flooding. Pictured is Parramatta ferry wharf after heavy rain
NSW SES volunteers rescued multiple motorists trapped in flash flooding when 60 millimetres of rain drenched Parramatta in the space of three hours earlier this month.
But that's minor flooding compared to the catastrophe that could happen, where emergency workers could be faced with the daunting task of rescuing residents from one to two storeys of fast-flowing floodwater.
'The risk is the inability to get people out,' Mr Jeoffreys told Fairfax Media.
'We wouldn't have time to evacuate. It becomes a major rescue operation.'
