State Emergency Services in regional New South Wales are understaffed and '"putting the public at risk" amid a third La Niña, according to a unit commanders.
Over the weekend, the SES responded to hundreds of calls for assistance as heavy rainfall resulted in dozens of flood warnings.
More than 100mm of rain fell in Lake Cargelligo in the state's Central West region, resulting in the lake bursting its banks.
Landholders were forced to sandbag homes and warned to prepare to isolate due to floodwater.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, another rainstorm will hit New South Wales on Thursday and Friday, with 50mm of rain expected at Lake Cargelligo.
The town has a population of 1,479 but the local SES commander Ray Coff said there were only three SES volunteers in the community.
Mr Coff said they relied heavily on the SES stationed at Condobolin, almost 100km east of the town.
"We are well and truly understaffed, and we have to rely on out-of-area teams that are stationed over at Condo," he said.
"By the time you notify them and they activate, it is probably two hours before you can get anyone here on site. So it is a big concern."
Lake Cargelligo Road between the town and Condobolin is prone to flooding, often forcing out-of-area crews to travel via helicopter to provide assistance.
Mr Coff said this delay was putting lives in danger.
"It makes things very difficult. We can't respond if we are understaffed so it puts the public at risk," he said.
Ideally, SES crews in regional areas would have a minimum eight team members.
But Mr Coff said a lack of employment opportunities in the town had prevented them from securing young volunteers long-term.
"There is just not the work in this part of the world for people who have got the get up and go to become a qualified member," Mr Coff said.
"They go out of town seeking employment and that is the end of our membership."
Numbers growing in the city
More than 1,000 new volunteers have signed up for the SES across NSW, but most are in Sydney or on the North Coast.
SES Incident Controller Ben Pickup said, with the flooding experienced across NSW in the past 12 months, most regional units had seen "one or two" new people join.
According to the SES, there are seven volunteers in the Lake Cargelligo unit, which differs to the Unit Commander's figure of three.
Mr Pickup said the service had "started to see a shift away" from volunteering.
"People generally move away from small communities in search of work or study.
"Volunteering with the SES is about what you can provide for the service, it doesn't mean you have to attend training every week," he said.
