The body of a woman has been located on the banks of a flooded river in NSW's Central West, after a car was last night swept off a causeway nearby.
Emergency services were called to Cooyal Creek, at Gulgong, about 30km north of Mudgee about 11pm yesterday after reports a vehicle had been swept into floodwaters.
The driver, a 45-year-old man, and two male passengers – aged 43 and 26 – escaped the vehicle and made their way to safety.
However, authorities were last night unable to find a 28-year-old woman, who was also a passenger in the vehicle.
While the body is yet to be formally identified, police said they believed it was the missing woman.
There are more than 140 current flood warnings across the state and 15 evacuation orders in parts of Moree, Dubbo, Mudgee and Moama on the NSW-Victoria border.
NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said there have been 33 flood rescues across the state in the past 24 hours and 500 requests for assistance.
She said the major areas of concern remain on the southern NSW border around Moama and Deniliquin, in northern NSW at Lismore and around Moree.
Hundreds of homes, businesses inundated around Moree and Gunnedah
In the north-west, Moree Mayor Mark Johnson estimated more than 300 homes and businesses had been inundated after its worst flood in a decade.
About 4000 residents were told to evacuate ahead of the Mehi River's peak of 10.5 metres yesterday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said it was expected to stay above the major flood level into Tuesday.
Mr Johnson said about 325 people were registered at the evacuation centre and 70 stayed there overnight.
He said his first priority was restocking the town, which was split in two by flooding, with supplies and then preparing to recover as the water recedes.
"The biggest challenge we have is food and provisions in the town because we haven't been able to get any of that in," Cr Johnson said.
"We are getting that in now but both of our supermarkets are on the northern side and still isolated [so] that'll be the first priority for the recovery groups."
The SES commissioner said the water should start to recede soon, but it would be slow.
"There are still eight evacuation warnings across Moree, but we're starting to plan for when the water goes down," Ms York said.
"When it does, we'll go in and do our assessments and let people know when it's safe to return.
"We are asking people to be patient," she said.
Gunnedah evacuation centre manager Noeline Broomfield said 57 people had registered at the centre so far, with many arriving on Monday after sleeping in their cars overnight.
"We're now getting a lot of people come in who tried to make alternate arrangements but for whatever reason that isn't sustainable for them, so now we're getting a second flush of people through," Ms Broomfield said.
"People are feeling very vulnerable and they need all the help they can get.
Murray River to peak at highest level in decades
Meanwhile, sand-bagging along the NSW-Victorian border continues with the Murray River at Moama expected to peak at the major flooding level of 94.9 metres on Monday — the highest it's been in nearly 30 years.
The SES said with continuing rain, renewed rises were also possible later in the week.
Fire and Rescue NSW worked in the dark to evacuate six people from Moama whose homes were under threat from rising flood waters in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Another two people, an elderly couple and their dog, were rescued on Sunday afternoon after becoming trapped by floodwater.
Murray River Council Mayor Chris Bilkey said he was proud of his community's response to the Murray River flood.
"I can't believe how strong the community has been in responding to the crisis and getting out there filling sandbags, transporting sandbags, building sandbag levees," he said.
"It's been heartwarming, humbling."
Pilot Nicole Mitchell flew a plane over Echuca-Moama yesterday to survey the flooding and said the levees appeared to be holding back a substantial amount of water.
"It's quite significant, particularly to the east along that Cadell Fault Line," she said.
Flood rescues in state's north, emergency evacuation order for lower North Lismore
In the state's north, a flood warning for the Wilsons River in Lismore has been downgraded from major to moderate, however an emergency evacuation order has been issued for lower North Lismore.
People on Winterton Parade between Pitt Street and the Wilsons River Pitt Lane should evacuate before 8pm tonight, ahead of an expected river peak of 7.02 metres at 10pm.
Parts of Ballina, Lismore and Kyogle experienced flash flooding overnight and six flood rescues were carried out.
Five of those rescues involved vehicles entering floodwater and one involved moving a horse that was stranded in floodwater to higher ground.
The SES said lower than expected rainfall totals meant river levels were unlikely to reach the major flood height predicted.
"We are likely to see a pass of moderate around midday [on Monday, but] we are pretty confident we won't see that major level," Jake Hoppe from the SES said.
"But we are still monitoring."
A Lismore business owner said he felt like he had dodged a bullet, but was still on edge after losing everything earlier in the year.
"We got the important stuff out and kept an eye on what was happening, but luckily at this stage we've dodged a bullet which is a big relief," Josh Oliver from Go Motors said.
"I'd rather look silly moving than losing everything again.
"I think the next thing now is watching to see what the end of the week brings.
"I'd love there just to be some blue sky and for Mother Nature to take a warm bath and put her feet up, but unfortunately we don't get that say."
Heidi Green from South Lismore said she's better prepared now than she was for the previous floods.
"Major changes [we've made] this time is getting our main machinery upstairs, tying down our wood a lot better than we did last time, getting a hot water system off the side of the building, and we've just literally bought UHF radios," she said.
