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National

Murray River still rising ahead of expected 30-year flood at Moama, storms forecast for northern NSW

The weather bureau has issued a warning for heavy rain, large hailstones and damaging winds in already saturated parts of central and northern New South Wales, ahead of more severe weather forecast for the coming days.

Dubbo, Forbes and Singleton have all received more than 20 millimetres of rain as the weather system settled in.

Bureau of Meterology forecaster Jonathan Howe said the state can expect more of the same in the coming days.

"Heading into Friday and and then certainly into the weekend we start to some some of those rainfall totals start to accumulate across the great dividing range, north west slopes, central west and also the south west slopes," he said.

"And then heading into the weekend are expecting some renewed flooding."

There are 69 flood warnings and eight emergency warnings across the state and the border town of Moama remains a focus for emergency services.

The Murray River has swollen to 94.44 metres (above sea level) and is expected to rise today and into the weekend.

It could peak at 95m tomorrow.

The forecast flooding is expected to be the highest seen since 1993.

Emergency services, volunteers and residents worked throughout the night to secure the town's levy and help vulnerable people evacuate.

A 2.5-kilometre levee has been built to protect the town, but rain that has fallen inside the protected zone will need to be pumped out.

Authorities have been working to get more pumps in to prevent more homes inside the levee from flooding.

The SES had 174 calls for help overnight and carried out three flood rescues.

NSW authorities on high alert with more rain forecast across state

NSW SES deputy duty commander Ken Murphy says the heaviest rains are expected to hit on Saturday.

"A lot of work will be done today with our Victorian counterparts to determine broader strategies across both borders to assist those communities,"  he said.

"We have a considerable amount of air assets, so there will be a considerable amount of recon done today."

About 75 people are now registered at evacuation centres along the Murray River.

About 300 people have been evacuated from Moama.

Native animals rescued

While carrying out reconnaissance work in Murray River, emergency services found themselves rescuing a wallaby from the "fast-flowing" Murray River at Moama.

Wallaby rescued from floodwaters(Supplied: Fire and Rescue NSW)

A statement from Fire and Rescue NSW said its specialist swift water crew, along with others from the SES and Surf Life Saving NSW, spotted the animal in distress on Thursday morning.

"They steered their boat towards the wallaby, lifting it onto the vessel before taking the marsupial to nearby grassland and releasing it," the statement read.

"A short time later, locals preparing sandbags in the same township spotted a kangaroo hopping around in floodwaters.

"They alerted FRNSW who attended and carefully guided the animal back to land, where it was able to catch its breath."

'Doing whatever we can'

Dennis Case, who has lived on the banks for Murray River at Moama his entire life, says the community has rallied together.

Mr Case's entire home has been sandbagged, which he says would not have been possible without others stepping in.

"I didn't think nobody cared and that I would do all this by myself," he said.

"I didn't think anybody would come and help like they did — I much appreciate it.

"People come from Melbourne and all that to help us out and that is very, very generous."

Rain records fall overnight

In the state's north, the Bureau of Meteorology has downgraded a thunderstorm warning in place for a number of communities, including Walgett, Nyngan and Moree.

Rainfall of up to 119 millimetres was recorded in parts of the state to 9am Thursday morning.

The border town of Goondiwindi received its entire average monthly rainfall of 48mm for October in just seven hours overnight.

The small town of Ivanhoe between the Lachlan and Darling rivers received 69mm, smashing its previous record for the highest monthly October rainfall in 22 years of record keeping in just one day.

Further west, Trevallyn on the Darling River recorded the state's highest rainfall total at 119mm.

NSW SES South-East Zone media officer David Rankine said the Gwydir catchment had already started to respond to the large falls.

"Gravesend overnight reached the minor flood level and is due to reach moderate through the course of today, so we are certainly seeing the first of these rain fronts come through," he said.

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