Greater Sydney facing 'life-threatening emergency' weather event as thousands told to evacuate

Thousands of people have been told to leave their homes across Sydney as a dangerous weather event, expected to linger until Tuesday, escalates. And the next 24 hours are critical.
Key points:

Multiple evacuation orders have been issued in NSW
Roads are to be avoided with weather expected to get worse
The community is asked to act as soon as they can and seek higher ground

Fears over the formation of an east coast low have materialised with Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter region, the South Coast and the Illawarra experiencing torrential rain, damaging winds, flash flooding, coastal erosion and riverine flooding.

Some areas have received more than 200 millimetres of rain with higher rainfalls of more than 350mm for parts of the Illawarra.

Daily rainfall in some places has exceeded their averages for July. In the 24 hours up to 9am Sunday, the highest total of 368mm was recorded at Brogers Creek just south-west of Wollongong.

Major flooding is occurring on the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond and may exceed the levels reached on three previous events — March 2021, March 2022 and April 2022.