NSW is expecting a few days of relief from the heavy downpours that have smashed the state but floodwaters will continue to rise.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged people to listen to authorities and follow the advice.
“This is not a time for people to take risks,” he said on Sunday.
Sunshine was forecast for the start of the week
but NSW was expecting another big system to hit on Wednesday.
Rescues and evacuation orders
Emergency services performed 28 flood rescues across NSW in the 24 hours up to Sunday afternoon, with 21 of them overnight.
Five emergency warnings have been issued across NSW, from Dubbo to the outskirts of Sydney.
The evacuation orders are among 100 warnings issued across NSW, including advice-level warnings and watch-and-act warnings.
Residents along the Hawkesbury and Lachlan rivers, as well as those in the Central Coast and the state’s north, have been warned to prepare to leave.
State Emergency Service commissioner Carlene York urged people to be vigilant after a night of rescues, the majority being people who’d attempted to drive through floodwaters.
‘A long, wet spring and summer ahead’
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said Sydney had been “fortunate”.
“Communities in rural, regional and remote NSW; they’ll be on edge for the next few days while we wait for another big system to arrive,” Ms Cooke said.
“We are in for a long spring and summer in relation to wet weather conditions.”
Floodwaters are predicted to impact inland NSW for months.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding said NSW could expect a series of weather fronts to pass through the state this season.
As of Sunday evening, evacuation orders were active for the Oura Beach Camping Area outside Wagga Wagga, the Western Plains Tourist Park at Dubbo, the Riverside Ski Park in Cattai, and parts of Agnes Banks and Lower Portland.
Four evacuation centres have been set up, including three in and around Sydney and a fourth in Dubbo.
Major flooding is occurring and expected across the state, including in Gundagai from Sunday afternoon and several locations along the Lachlan River.
In the NSW’s central west, the Bathurst 1000 was marred by a series of crashes with conditions hampered by the torrential rain the area had seen.
