River by river, how and where the NSW floods brought deadly destruction

Record-breaking rainfall across northern NSW is leading to vast amounts of water flowing down several massive river systems towards the NSW coast, causing major floods.

Here are some of the river systems most heavily affected by the flood disaster.

The Manning River, fed by several tributaries that wind down from the high country north of Barrington Tops, surged to unprecedented levels this week after the district received half a metre of rain in three days.

Taree and other townships including Wingham were swamped by floodwaters and hundreds of people were evacuated.

A rescue team made contact with a 63-year-old man in Moto, north of Taree, but by the time they reached his flooded property, the man had died.

Others saw their livelihoods ruined. “It’s gone, it’s gone. The shop is gone,” said Taree barber Mustafa Al-Abboodi. “We’re waiting for the water to go. What are we going to do?”

James Larking and Kerri-Ann Gimbert had little warning before the waters rose to engulf their home, east of Taree.

The couple swam through neck-deep water to rescue deer and donkeys.

“We’ve lost everything, but we’re alive, we’re safe – that’s the main thing,” Larking said.

The Hastings River peaked above the major flood level late on Wednesday, with waters spilling into central areas of Wauchope and Port Macquarie.

The water levels have stabilised and in some places are receding, but heavy rain is still falling in catchment areas west of Port Macquarie.

The Oxley Highway linking Wauchope and Port Macquarie remains underwater, and drivers must take a circuitous route south to travel between the neighbouring towns.

“We haven’t been able to get in to assess damage to the roads so it may be a while before they’re back on line,” Roberts said.

“We’re asking people to stay off the roads where possible. There’s still a lot of water around.”

At about 8am on Thursday, at Rosewood, just east of Wauchope, searchers found the body of a man in his 30s whose vehicle had become stuck in floodwaters.

“Some of the businesses in the CBD are inundated; I have just been in a couple that have a foot or so of water in them,” said the mayor of Port Macquarie Hastings, Adam Roberts.

In Kempsey Shire, 23,000 residents are approaching 24 hours of isolation as floodwaters on the Macleay River reached 7.4 metres on Thursday morning.

Kempsey Mayor Kinne Ring said the community was bracing for flood levels not seen since 2001, with 250 millimetres of rain expected to fall across Thursday.

“We haven’t had any loss of power or telecommunications, but people are running out of food and medicine – that is something we’re worried about,” Ring said.

“We’ve just had a lot of local rain, and we’ve had a wet April with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred – the water is coming down and staying.”

In Smithtown, north-east of Kempsey on the Macleay River, homes have been wrecked by floodwaters that were expected to rise late on Thursday.

Among those facing property damage is Kym Machin, whose bed and breakfast has been lashed by flooding that has exceeded four metres and threatened to rise further.

“Smithtown isn’t a metropolis, it isn’t the centre of the world, so I didn’t expect tonnes of bookings. I expected public holidays and school breaks, but I probably won’t get any of that now ... I’ve never seen it flood like this.”

Machin’s partner, Ross Costanzo, who lives in a rural property in the neighbouring town of Old Station, thought the river had risen by more than a metre since this morning.

“The river is basically full; this morning it was high tide, and it’s still raining now, it’s still rising,” Costanzo said.

Evacuation warnings were issued late on Wednesday for several stretches of the Nambucca River, including at Macksville, Bowraville at Nambucca Heads.

Flood projections from the Bureau of Meteorology were being updated late on Thursday, with fresh evacuation warnings issued after 3pm.

“You must evacuate now because flood water may impact your area,” said the State Emergency Service warning issued at 3.19pm to residents of Nambucca Heads who live close to the Nambucca River.

In Bowraville, residents in several streets were warned at 3.21pm to take shelter.

“It is now too late to leave safely as evacuation routes are likely to be cut off,” the SES warning said. “Seek shelter in a sturdy raised structure that can be safely accessed. You may now be trapped without power, water, and other essential services and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you.”

In Macksville, dozens of buildings were inundated on the north bank of the Nambucca River on Thursday evening, with SES crews ferrying supplies across the water to stranded residents on Friday.

“The floodwaters around the area are something I’ve never seen in 50 years,” Nambucca Valley mayor Gary Lee told Sky News. “It’s catastrophic.”

While not currently facing the same level of risk as river systems on the NSW Mid North Coast and Hunter regions, the Hawkesbury and Nepean Rivers near Sydney are rising due to record rain.

Richmond Airport on the Hawkesbury was soaked with 181mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday and Penrith received 115mm - both May records for those sites.

Parts of Cobbity close to the Nepean River in Sydney’s south-west began flooding on Thursday, with some residents having been warned to be ready to evacuate.

“If you remain in the area, you may become trapped without power, water, and other essential services,” the SES said. “It may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you.”

An alert was also issued for Gronos Point, north-west of Sydney on the Hawkesbury, warning residents to prepare to be isolated by floodwater and trapped without power, water and other essential services.

Warragamba Dam - Sydney’s main water supply source - feeds into the river system. It was sitting at 97 per cent capacity at 2.30pm on Friday.

Water releases from the dam, which would raise river levels downstream, were possible late Friday or early Saturday.