Karl Stefanovic blasts David Elliott for blaming his colleague for the Warragamba Dam overflowing 

Karl Stefanovic has criticised Emergency Services Minister David Elliott for shifting blame to his cabinet colleague, Water Minister Melinda Pavey, over the Warragamba Dam overflow.

Sydney’s biggest water catchment is continuing to overflow as heavy rain batters the city causing widespread flooding, cutting off roads and towns in low-lying areas. 

Warragamba dam, which supplies water to more than 3.7 million people in Sydney and the lower Blue Mountains, is having its first significant overflow in 30 years. 

Tensions between the two ministers has ramped up after the heaviest rain in 60 years continues to fall on the Nepean and Hawkesbury catchment, causing thousands of western Sydney residents to evacuate.   

Mr Elliott argued water needed to be released from the dam in preparation for the deluge, saying ‘a full and frank discussion’ with Ms Pavey would be needed.

Stefanovic on Monday’s Today Show blasted Mr Elliott for engaging in a war of words with Ms Pavey during the catastrophic weather event. 

‘You are involved in this public stoush which I don’t think is helpful in any way, shape or form with your water minister Melinda Pavey,’ Stefanovic told the minister. 

‘You say that the water should have been released from the Warragamba Dam a couple of weeks Agnes bank. She says that’s completely and utterly naive. What’s going on?’  

The Warragamba spillway is releasing water at the rapid rate of 450 gigalitres a day, almost enough to fill the size of Sydney Harbour which hold 500GL.

Thousands more homes could be flooded in the next two days as enough water spills out of the Warragamba Dam to fill Sydney Harbour every day. 

Water spilling from the dam in Sydney’s south-west began flowing into the Nepean-Hawkesbury River catchment, now on track to see flood levels even worse than the catastrophic 1961 disaster.

Rising floodwaters in Sydney’s west and north-west are now higher than the disaster 60 years ago, where residents in low-lying areas were ordered to leave their homes on Sunday night before floodwaters peak.  

That rate could increase as inflows to the dam storage continue to rise.

Water NSW modelling suggests 1500GL of water will flow into Warragamba in coming days, about 75 per cent of the dam’s storage capacity.

Parts of Penrith and other areas along the Nepean were ordered to evacuate on Sunday as NSW battles devastating floods after days of unabated rain.

There are 20 evacuation orders in place running from the Mid-North Coast down to the Illawarra, including Sydney and western Sydney, with more expected to be declared on Monday. 

Almost NSW 200 schools will be closed on Monday but with the extreme wet weather continuing, decisions will be made hourly on further closures.

The BOM expects Monday to bring the worst flooding event to the area northwest of Sydney since November 1961 – 60 years ago.

Floodwaters are expected to rise to major levels on Monday morning and inundate places such as Windsor, Pitt Town, North Richmond, Freemans Reach and Colo.