Five people dead in NSW floods, rainfall expected to ease

While rainfall is expected to ease, five people have been confirmed dead in the midst of severe flooding in NSW.

Flooding at Ghinni Ghinni on the NSW mid north coast. Picture: NewsWire / Transport NSW

Five people have died after northern NSW experienced severe flooding for the past five days, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning that there could still be incoming danger.

After heavy rainfall washed across the NSW mid-north region, state emergency services conducted over 600 rescues in the past three days alone.

Comboyne, 66km west of Port Macquarie, has been established as the state’s most flood-affected area, having reached 705mm of rainfall since Monday.

The top three most affected areas were rounded out by Yarras, west of Port Macquarie, with 689mm, while Taree is in third at 606mm.

Meanwhile a fifth person died on Friday night in flood-affected Cooplacurripa, 50km northwest of Taree.

The body was found in the burnt property which was cut off by floodwaters for several days.

Police confirmed that otherwise no one is missing because of the state’s severe weather.

Severe flooding in New South Wales. Picture: Supplied

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Jonathan How said that despite sunny skies reaching most of NSW on Saturday, there is still a major flood warning in Wollombi Brook, 100km west of Newcastle.

“The message is that even though we are seeing dry skies today, there is still the potential for danger,” Mr How said.

“A lot of these rivers are still quite swollen.

“So we are reminding people to keep across the latest warnings.”

As of Saturday evening, there are 24 emergency warnings still in place across NSW, with moderate warnings for Orara River and Tuggerah Lake.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, 2nd left, and Jihad Dib, Minister for Emergency Services, visit the Taree SES Emergency Operations Centre. Picture: Scott Calvin/ NewsWire

Premier Chris Minns said that authorities’ first priority has been saving people in imminent risk of death, before supplying food and shelter, with the third and last priority being the clean-up effort.

“I know that there’s … going to be frustration when someone’s goods have been swept away or their business has been smashed,” Mr Minns said.

“But everyone would appreciate as well that we’ve got to make sure that the third priority doesn’t jump in front of the first one.”

Mr Minns confirmed that he’s trying to establish a date and time for hardship grants to be supplied for flood-affected residents.

Authorities have been using drones to drop medicine to isolated residents, as well as delivering fodder to farmers.

Rainfall is not expected for NSW on Sunday but a cold front will hit the state on Monday, bringing some showers across the inland region.

Mr How said that given the community vulnerability, the BOM would keep a close eye on the weather for those regions.