The weather bureau has warned of “lots of flooding to come” on the New South Wales mid-north coast after intense rain has caused a major river to rise to its highest level in almost 100 years.
A Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist, Dean Narramore, forecast 50mm to 150mm rainfall in parts of the state north of Forster on Wednesday, with isolated falls in excess of 200m possible.
Narramore said some areas had been inundated by 300mm to 400mm of rain – the town of Taree even more – causing widespread flash flooding and major river flooding.
He said the floods would probably not ease until later in the week as a slow-moving weather system continued to dump rain on the region.
“[The weather system] wobbles north today and then it will probably come back south, unfortunately, tomorrow, and then finally clearing out on Friday from the mid-north coast,” he said.
“[There are] still two days of rainfall on the way, with lots of flooding to come.”
Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Kempsey, Sawtell, Dorrigo, Barrington Tops, Wingham and Yarrowitch were in line for more rain.
Locals around the Manning River were warned to evacuate on Tuesday evening as the river surged past major flood levels.
By Wednesday morning the river was at a level “never seen before” at Taree, surpassing the 1929 record of six metres, the NSW State Emergency Service said.
In the past 24 hours, the SES responded to 892 calls, including 130 flood rescues, the bulk of which were in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne.
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The rescues included several cars caught driving into flood water and, as the night progressed, many people reported rising water into their homes, with some needing to seek refuge on their roofs, the SES said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve … had a large number of calls for help in areas that were subject to evacuation warnings and we are still assessing how best to access those locations,” the state duty commander, Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone, said on Wednesday.
In the state’s Hunter region, the Myall River is among the areas on flood watch, with residents warned to monitor forecasts and rainfall and be ready to move to higher ground.
For Ray, a cleaner at Bulahdelah’s Plough Inn Hotel, the rising river has already caused damage.
“My houseboat went,” he said. “I was looking across the jetty [Tuesday] morning and it wasn’t there. It’s the icing on the cake, [the weather has been on and off for the last couple of weeks.”
