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Intense rainfalls and major flooding have hit Australia’s most populous state as a slow-moving system dumps rain, causing a major river to rise to the highest level in almost 100 years.
Heavy rainfall around the NSW mid-north coast will continue on Wednesday and may cause life-threatening flash flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.
Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Kempsey, Sawtell, Dorrigo, Barrington Tops, Wingham and Yarrowitch are in line for more rain as rivers continue to rise.
Locals around the Manning River were warned to evacuate on Tuesday evening as the river surged past major flooding levels.
By Wednesday morning, the river was flooding at a level “never seen before” at Taree, surpassing the 1929 record of six metres, the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) said.
In the past 24 hours, the SES responded to 892 incidents, including 130 flood rescues, the bulk of which were in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne.
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.
NSW SES state duty commander, assistant commissioner Colin Malone said on Wednesday: “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.”
Six-hourly rainfall totals between 100mm and 140mm are possible through the day, the SES warned.
In the state’s Hunter region, the Myall River is among the areas on flood watch, with local 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,” Ray told AAP.
“I was looking across the jetty [on Tuesday] morning and it wasn’t there.”
The SES warned Bulahdelah residents to evacuate some areas on Tuesday afternoon.
Rain is expected to continue into the weekend amid the multi-day flood event.
Taree copped more than 267mm of rain across Monday and Tuesday, among some of the heaviest falls from the system.
