Some residents in a remote Western New South Wales village are refusing to evacuate despite the threat of the sewer system failing, potentially causing spillage onto the streets.
The State Emergency Services has issued an evacuation order for Namoi Village, a largely Aboriginal community near Walgett.
Elders say many locals fear their homes may be looted if they are left empty and others are reluctant to relocate to Dubbo or Coonamble, away from their land and families.
The SES is warning that there is a high risk to the health and safety, and it might become too dangerous to rescue those left behind.
SES officer Josh Clarke said the situation had been explained to residents and that they were asked to leave by this afternoon.
"It's anticipated by around 4pm today the sewerage system will start to back up, potentially through residences and the streets," he said.
"The members of the community in Namoi Village are willing and understand the consequences of remaining, and some have taken that decision to stay there."
He said "a number" of locals had agreed to evacuate and those who did would be ferried to Walgett and then taken to emergency accommodation by welfare services.
'Taking its toll'
Elsewhere in Western NSW SES crews are focusing their efforts on resupplying flood-affected regions such as Condobolin, Euabalong, Walgett and Lightning Ridge.
Refrigerated planes are flying bread, eggs, milk and other perishables to isolated communities because the normal freight routes are cut off.
Mr Clarke said flooding was "taking its toll" on communities and volunteers and that the SES expected to be busy for the foreseeable future.
"We're talking about pallets and pallets and pallets of food — thousands of kilos, so it's quite a substantial logistical operation to ensure we can resupply these communities," he said.
"It's been sunny for the last few days and that's been an absolute delight.
"But we're not out of this and unfortunately there's another weather system moving to Australia by the end of the week."
Condobolin is forecast to experience its worst flood in 70 years when its the major peak arrives on Monday.
That is expected to cut the town off entirely.
The Lachlan River is expected to hit the 7.4-metre mark next week.
Farmers downstream at Bedgerabong and Corinella are scrambling to sandbag their homes.
The SES says it will be keeping a close eye on conditions over the weekend into early next week and will be providing rolling updates to those communities.
