Hobart’s flooding over Thursday night has been declared catastrophic following the fourth most significant rainfall event in the capital on record.
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Homes were inundated with water and cars were lifted from bitumen and washed down roads primarily in central Hobart, Sandy Bay, South Hobart, Lenah Valley, and Kingston.
Flooding in the CBD meant that many businesses were either closed for the day or workers were prevented from reaching their workplaces.
Several schools were closed as was the entire University of Tasmania campus where three buildings received significant damage.
One person required rescue from a room within one of those buildings after they were trapped by water one-metre deep.
One man needed to be rescued from a car in New Town.
A rescue chopper was deployed to New Norfolk on Friday afternoon to rescue a 15-year-old boy stranded on the town’s cricket oval.
State Emergency Service director Andrew Lee said since 6pm on Thursday the service had responded to more than 300 calls related to water inundation and fallen trees.
At 10am on Friday the SES still had 100 calls to respond to.
"I've been in this job for 17 years and I've never seen an event of this scale in the Hobart area,” Mr Lee said.
Fifteen beds, including intensive care beds, were forced to close at the Royal Hobart Hospital as were footbridges over Collins Street and the Hobart rivulet which affecting access to a section of the hospital.
The nearby Ronald McDonald House was closed and accommodation sourced for families staying there.
An evacuation centre remained open in central Hobart for people needing shelter.
Housing Minister Roger Jaensch said government representatives visited the city’s showgrounds during the day to assist homeless people gathered there to find short-term accommodation.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Simon McCulloch said Hobart received 129 millimetres of rain during the event – the fourth highest amount on record.
The Insurance Council of Australia declared the flooding a catastrophe with more than 1000 claims lodged.
RACT received 400 claims estimated to be well in excess of $1 million.
