Central west NSW is facing its worst flooding in 70 years, with 22 emergency warnings issued across the state on Friday, including for Wagga Wagga, Gunnedah and Moama.
More than 1000 residents in Forbes have been told to leave for higher ground, with the overflowing Lachlan River expected to exceed 10.8 metres by Friday night – a mark not reached since 1952.
“We’re keeping an eye on the water levels, and preparing for the big one. It won’t be long until we’re cut off,” Myleffa Ryan said, as water lapped at the door of her furniture store in Forbes.
Ryan said a sense of anxiety hangs over the town.
“Its a pretty nervous wait, we’ve been out sandbagging to help give back to the community, but when mother nature takes control, all we can do is sit back and wait.”
The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, visited Forbes on Friday, where he said the community there was going through a “difficult time”.
“Forbes was also hit 12 months ago by a flood and they dealt with that [with] the great support of the SES. I want to thank them. We have been meeting each other far too often through this period, but the community here is resilient. It’s great to see so many people coming together.”
The premier announced rural assistance grants of up to $25,000, offered together with the federal government, and 50 ADF personnel to provide support for Forbes.
He also urged people to avoid driving through flood waters at all costs.
“You wouldn’t drive into a bushfire, do not drive through flood waters. We have seen too many lives lost because people do not follow that simple rule.”
The flooding at Lachlan River has affected the towns of Nanami and Condobolin, with water levels not expected to fall for weeks.
The Murrumbidgee River has also burst its banks, with evacuation orders issued for Wagga Wagga overnight.
The emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, said residents in some communities might not see their property directly affected but could be isolated due to flooding nonetheless.
The recent floods have eclipsed this year’s March floods, Cooke said.
“We are now seeing flood upon flood upon flood, the layering of one flood on another.”
Liam, a local business owner, told Guardian Australia the town was expecting the water to hit by Friday afternoon.
“Like every other shop here, we’ve been sandbagging. We’re hoping the water won’t get into our shop, but you can’t be sure.
“I’ve been through two floods before, I don’t like it, but its inevitable here. We live on a river – it’s going to happen. When the rain comes, the rain comes.”
“At least we’ve been given some warning here, unlike in Lismore earlier this year,” he said.
The Forbes Shire Council mayor, Phyllis Miller, told ABC Radio on Friday morning that while the rising water was expected, there was still some “panic”.
“There are some people who have just moved here. We’re OK but it’s just the unknown of where this flood will end up.”
The Bureau of Meteorology warned the flood peak, which is about 20km upstream from Forbes, would arrive by Friday evening.
Emergency accommodation has been set up at a local school.
Charles Laverty, a local cattle farmer, spent Thursday sandbagging his property on the outskirts of Forbes, where about one-third of his paddocks are already underwater.
Continued flooding has hit the area and other farming communities hard, as they struggle to recover from repeated bouts of destruction to crops and livestock losses.
“A lot of [my neighbours] have given up on harvesting those areas, which is very expensive,” he said.
“The losses are going to be devastating for them.”
Assistant commissioner of the SES, Nicole Hogan, said areas such as Forbes were experiencing “blue-sky floods”.
“Even when the rain has stopped falling, water is continuing to move downstream through various catchments, creating issues with river rises and renewed flood peaks,” she said.
Meanwhile, police divers continue to search for the body of a man swept out of a ute tray into a flooded river in the NSW southern tablelands.
The man was one of two washed from the tray on Monday night when the ute was driven across a causeway. Police divers found the other man’s body on Thursday afternoon.
Major flooding at Hay is expected to worsen from mid-November while moderate flooding is occurring at Tumut and Narrandera.
In the west, flood peaks are flowing into the Barwon-Darling River system from multiple tributaries causing flooding at Mungindi, Mogil Mogil and Walgett.
Brewarrina, Bourke and Louth are among towns warned to prepare for major flooding this month similar to that experienced in September 1998.
AAP contributed to this report.
