Sydney and the Australian coast have suffered heavy rain events several times this year. Photo: Muhammad Farooq / AFP
Emergency warnings and evacuations orders are in place for areas stretching from Sydney's north-west to the Riverina and central west as wild weather lashes New South Wales.
Dozens of people have been rescued from floodwaters and the State Emergency Service (SES) has fielded hundreds of calls for help.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said rivers were yet to peak in some regional and rural communities.
"They'll be on edge for the next few days while we await another big system to arrive on Wednesday through to Friday," she said.
Australia's east is in the grip of a rare third straight year of the La Nina weather event, associated with increased rainfall. Sydney on Thursday recorded its wettest year since records began in 1858, with almost three months left in 2022.
Dams and rivers are almost full, and officials continue to warn motorists to avoid waterlogged roads during the last weekend of school spring break and for those returning from motor racing event Bathurst 1000 to take care.
"It is very dangerous out there on the roads, and we are seeing a lot of flash flooding and the rivers are still rising," said New South Wales state emergency service Commissioner Carlene York.
Cooke said floodwaters in inland New South Wales "will continue to be a problem for communities not just for the weeks ahead, but for months," Cooke said.
Another storm is expected to hit the state from Wednesday, bringing with it more rain.
Devastating floods have repeatedly struck Australia's east coast this year. In March, rising waters forced tens of thousands from their homes and at least 13 were killed.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged people in flood-affected areas to heed the warnings.
"I would say to people to listen to the authorities, follow the advice which is there ... this is not a time to take risks," he said.
"My heart goes out to those people who have suffered time and time again, particularly in the recent period. "
Water is steadily rising along the Murrumbidgee River, with recent rain combining with releases from Burrunjuck Dam.
The dam is now releasing 100,000 megalitres of water per day and communities downstream are bracing for a flood peak in the next 24 hours.
Sydney's situation deteriorates
In Sydney, the number of emergency warnings is growing.
Residents of Gronos Point on the Hawkesbury River were issued an order to leave early on Sunday morning, and people at the Riverside Ski Park at Cattai have now been asked to leave by 6pm local time.
The northern part of Pitt Town, including Percy's Place Caravan Park and properties along Hall Street, is also in danger of dangerous flooding with residents told to leave by 11:45pm tonight.
Resident Peter Worsley said he was getting used to constant floods, but was not expecting water to threaten his home this time.
"We're not panicking, we've seen the worst earlier in July, floods were bad, we were really, really impacted by it," Worsley said.
"But this one's not going to be anywhere near as bad, we're learning to live with them, unfortunately."
Rescues across the state
Falls of 40 to 50 millimetres have been recorded across much of the state already experiencing flooding, and there were some significantly higher rain totals from isolated storms.
Earlier today State Emergency Service acting superintendent Joshua Clark said there had been more than 650 calls for help and 27 flood rescues in NSW during the past 24 hours.
The SES responded to 13 of those rescues across the Hunter and Central Coast.
"Most of the flood rescues were for vehicles that had driven into floodwater, a few were very close to being swept away and also we've seen a couple of medical evacuations," the SES's Jake Hoppe said.
- ABC/Reuters
