Multiple evacuation orders remain in place across much of the NSW east coast as some areas begin the clean-up efforts — the second of the year for some residents.
Look back on today's developments as they unfolded.
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Live updates
By Kelsie Iorio
Our blog coverage wraps up here for today
There are plenty of places to stay up-to-date overnight:
- ABC News online's NSW feed
- ABC Emergency online
- NSW SES's Twitter feed
- BOM's weather warning summary
- ABC Sydney on 702am or online, or search for your local frequency via the ABC Radio Finder
Thanks for joining us today.
For emergency assistance, contact NSW SES on 132 500.
If your life is at risk, call Triple Zero (000) immediately.
By Kelsie Iorio
New severe weather warning for NSW's Mid North Coast, Northern Tablelands
The Bureau of Meteorology says the threat of localised heavy rainfall is easing in the Hunter, but remains in place for much of the Mid North Coast and parts of the Northern Tablelands:
By Kelsie Iorio
Houses inundated, residents cut off around Wilberforce
Reporting by Harriet Tatham and Kamin Gock
The Hawkesbury river has swallowed several properties located between the two communities of Windsor and Wilberforce.
The SES and Surf Life Saving volunteers have been ferrying residents, food and supplies to cut-off properties.
This is Swaran and Sukhwinder Singh — they've been sleeping in their Wilberforce grocery store since Sunday with floodwaters preventing them from returning to their home in Kellyville:
They’ve been living off the food they would typically sell and say locals have been grateful that they have remained open.
“We’re running out of groceries, there’s no bread, no milk,” Swaran says.
Some road closures are expected to remain in place for several days as the water slowly subsides.
By Kelsie Iorio
Camden caravan park cops significant damage
Reporting by Kelly Fuller
Council and emergency crews are cleaning up in Camden, south-west of Sydney.
More than 20 permanent residents of the local caravan park remain in emergency accommodation after being evacuated on Sunday due to rising floodwaters.
Some of the caravans and cabins have been swept away and destroyed.
Residents are not expected to be able to return to the pack until Friday at the earliest.
The busy Camden Valley Way remains closed, but the SES hopes it will open tonight.
Not much beach time for the grandkids
Reporting and photos by Holly Tregenza
Stella Kelly lives on River Road at Sussex Inlet, near Jervis Bay, and watched with her two granddaughters as the flood-waters rose yesterday.
They are visiting for the school holidays, but are unlikely to get much beach time.
In the 10 years her and husband have lived here, they've been flooded four times — three of those events were in the last two years.
"We're feeling worn down a bit, like anybody would," Ms Kelly said.
She is also worried about critical local infrastructure, like sewage.
"You don't realise how much it affects your life if you can't wash up, have a shower, go to the toilet.
"It's the things you take for granted, the everyday stuff."
This has not been as bad for the Kellys as flooding earlier this year, but they were surprised by how quickly the water rose.
"It filled up really quickly, literally within the 24 hours."
By Kelsie Iorio
PM's concerns for the agriculture sector
The Prime Minister has warned the impact of the New South Wales flooding emergency on the agriculture sector will be significant.
Anthony Albanese just got back to Australia this afternoon from Europe.
He's thanked emergency personnel and volunteers working around the clock to help residents and businesses in affected areas, but says the impact of this latest disaster will be profound.
"We know as well there's a significant impact going to occur on agriculture," he says.
"This is the fourth flooding event that we've seen in some of these areas like the Hawkesbury in the last eighteen months."
By Kelsie Iorio
Surf Life Saving volunteers rescued a baby in the Illawarra
By ABC Illawarra reporter Ainslie Drewitt-Smith
Illawarra Surf Life Savers say it's been "surreal" watching the emergency unfold in south-west Sydney after returning home from a two-day deployment.
Crews from the Thirroul and Bellambi clubs assisted emergency services with evacuations and the delivery of food and medical supplies in parts of Camden, Liverpool and Windsor.
Director of Surf Life Saving in the Illawarra Anthony Turner says volunteers even helped rescue a baby.
"We did some rescues with the SES with people trapped in their properties with the rising flood waters," Mr Turner said.
"The youngest was a 12-month-old baby, and we rescued some dogs as well.
"Our members said it was so surreal looking at two-storey buildings with flood waters up to that height. Those clubs have done an extraordinary job."
By Kelsie Iorio
'Do not take risks', PM says
He's just touched down back on home soil:
By Kelsie Iorio
Hawkesbury River peaks higher than March 2022 floods
Reporting by Harriet Tatham
The Hawkesbury River at Windsor is peaking at 14 metres.
This is higher than the March 2022 flood event which reached 13.8 metres, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
While the suburb is surrounded by road closures, several locals have walked to the Windsor Bridge to check out the damage.
By Kelsie Iorio
Flood-proofed road... floods
Flood-proofing work to raise a road at Testers Hollow near Maitland in the NSW Hunter Valley has had its first test ... and it's not going great.
The current works are a $17 million upgrade, due to finish early 2023.
ABC Newcastle's Blake Doyle has been speaking to locals who say it proves a bridge should be built in the flood prone area instead.
Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison said the impact could cause a review of the current upgrade design.
"In terms of the longer term, I think there's going to have to be a review after all the rain this year," she said.
"We've been told that it is meant to be floodproof, we'll try to make an assessment, at the moment we're just in the middle of a difficult situation."
By Kelsie Iorio
Sudden flood spells further devastation for beekeeper
Reporting by Amelia Bernasconi, Bridget Murphy and Bindi Bryce
The threat of varroa mite is already enough of a headache for Belford apiarist Josh Johnson, but flooding over the last few days has ravaged his farm in Belford in the NSW Hunter Valley and washed away several beehives.
Mr Johnson says this week's deluge is the second flood he's been hit with this year.
"We had around 10 beehives... five of them have washed away, we can't find them at all," he says.
"We managed to recover five of them and get them home, but with the varroa mite (outbreak) we aren't able to open them up and check them."
Despite the damage to his operation, Johnson isn't eligible for disaster assistance.
His property is in the Singleton Shire, which is yet to be included in the federal disaster declaration.
He's calling for the government to expand the eligible council zones.
"It would help us out a lot, it helped last time when we didn't expect (the flooding)," he says.
By Kelsie Iorio
Helping hounds
Fire and Rescue NSW have shared photos from an early-morning rescue of two adults and 14 (yes, 14) greyhounds.
The property has a number of greyhound kennels, and residents called for help around 5:45am this morning because they were worried about floodwaters inundating the hounds' homes.
"In-water FRNSW experts from Regentville and Katoomba Fire Stations teamed up with SES volunteers, using Arkangel rescue boats to ferry the dogs and the residents to safety without incident," Fire and Rescue NSW says.
By Kelsie Iorio
Travel with caution
Hey I have a flight booked for MEL->SYD tomorrow morning. I haven't heard any news of flights being cancelled or airports being damaged or closed due to dodgy weather - is all well on the aviation front?
- Paul
G'day Paul — we've been hearing of some isolated instances of flight delays and cancellations, but at this stage, Sydney Airport remains open.
Authorities in NSW have urged people to limit their travel where possible around flood-affected areas.
But these things are unpredictable — if the weather takes a turn tomorrow, things could change quickly. Keep an eye on updates from your airline for info on your flight.
Also, it's school holidays so it's busy as heck, just to add to the circus. Fair warning.
By Kelsie Iorio
Sydney flood crisis expected to worsen fruit and vegetable price hike
Reporting by Mollie Gorman, Joshua Becker, Jane McNaughton
Soaring vegetable prices could be here to stay for some time, with the New South Wales flood crisis just the latest in a round of hits driving grocery bills sky-high.
This is Camden vegetable producer Paul Grech, who says his crop of cabbages and baby spinach has been "wiped out" by the swollen Nepean River:
With the price of inputs like fertiliser and fuel also sky-high, Mr Grech says consumer grocery bills are likely to feel the cumulative impact.
"I think it's been coming for a while. People haven't been paying a lot for it," he says.
"People will pay $4, $5 for a cup of coffee, and … think nothing of it, but if lettuce is $10 a lettuce, it hits the news."
By Kelsie Iorio
PM headed to flood-hit NSW areas tomorrow
Just in from News Breakfast's Michael Rowland:
By Kelsie Iorio
Police staff evacuated in Windsor
The next-closest police station is Riverstone, which is about 15 minutes away.
No matter where you are or which station is closest to you, call 000 in an emergency.
By Kelsie Iorio
Long-time local says people will leave the area for good
This is Barry Roberts, the president of the flooded Wisemans Ferry Bowling Club.
He spoke with NSW reporter Cecilia Connell, and told her that since the club was built in 1977, March was the first time it's ever flooded.
And now it's under again.
Barry says he wasn't expecting the water to rise as high as it has this time around.
"We had to redo all the tiles and carpets. We just got that nicely done, now we’re ripping them back up again," he says.
"By and large, there’s a lot of people worse off than what we are here. We just got to grin a bear it."
Barry says he believes a lot of people will leave the area after this round of floods.
"'Not us again!' That’s what they're saying," he says.
"They’ve done it two years in a row, just got back on their feet. A lot of people haven’t even finished up what they were doing from the year before."
By Kelsie Iorio
Tuggerah and Budgewoi Lakes expected to reach major flood levels tonight
Reporting by Mary-Louise Vince
The SES is warning that rising floodwaters may inundate homes in 19 suburbs around The Entrance, Long Jetty and Chittaway, and as far north to Gorokan, San Remo and Toukley.
An evacuation centre has been set up at Diggers at the Entrance.
Major flooding is expected when the lake level reaches around 1.6 metres, which is expected this evening.
Here's what Chittaway Point looked like not long ago:
By Kelsie Iorio
NSW South Coast not spared from power outages
More than 100 homes on the New South Wales south coast remain without power after the region was lashed by wild winds and heavy rains again overnight
Endeavour Energy spokesman Peter Payne says damaged infrastructure has been difficult to access due to road closures and landslips.
"We need heavy vehicles to get in and repair the network," he told reporter Ainslie Drewitt-Smith from ABC Illawarra.
"Electricity supply is heavy construction where you have to take everything with you.
"Where we can get in, we'll get in to restore those customers as quickly as possible, but I wouldn't expect that to be until late today."
