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NSW flooding forces 18,000 people to evacuate, schools closed, workers told to stay home

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Warragamba Dam is overflowing and spilling the equivalent of Sydney Harbour's water each day.

A severe weather alert is in place for almost three-quarters of New South Wales as evacuation warnings remain for large parts of Sydney's west and the Mid North Coast.

Heavy rain is continuing to fall along the entire east coast, particularly on the Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers, due to a strong high pressure system over the southern Tasman Sea.

At the same time, a low pressure trough in the state's west is deepening, bringing heavy rain to the northern inland, where 99mm of rain has fallen at Tibooburra and 89mm at Borrona Downs since 9:00am on Monday.

Warnings are in place for moderate to major flooding for the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Colo rivers, with major flooding expected to impact Sackville and Windsor.

Lower Portland and Wisemans Ferry are also expecting major flooding due to significant amounts of water flowing from the Colo River, which continued to reach around 14 metres overnight.

So far, the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has evacuated about 18,000 people from their homes: 3,000 people in Western Sydney, and 15,000 on the Mid North Coast.

Evacuation orders were issued in Western Sydney and the foot of the Blue Mountains, affecting suburbs around Penrith and downstream to North Richmond as the Hawkesbury-Nepean River peaks.

On Monday night, the all-clear was given for residents of the western part of Jamiesontown area, Penrith's west and the northern end of Mulgoa were given permission to return home.

Those residents had been forced to evacuate on Sunday afternoon and evening.

The SES also issued evacuation warnings for Clarendon, Londonderry, McGraths Hill, South Windsor and the Windsor CBD, Mulgrave and Vineyard — all in Sydney's north west — with residents advised to be ready to leave if necessary.

Residents in Wetherill Park who live downstream from the Widemere Detention Basin at Greystanes are also advised to prepare to evacuate should dam levels continue to rise.

People holding umbrellas
Nepean River levels are receding at Tench Reserve in Jamisontown, leaving behind debris and dead fish.(

ABC News: Cecilia Connell

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Earlier, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said flooding in parts of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River system, which almost encircles Sydney, had reached levels not seen since 1961.

The BOM's Justin Robertson, who has been a flood forecaster for 20 years, said this was "probably the worst flooding" he has seen.

Since the heavy rain began, 450 gigalitres of water a day have been released from Warragamba Dam — comparable to the contents of Sydney Harbour, which is about 500 gigalitres.

NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Daniel Austin said there had been over 2,000 calls for help in the past 24 hours.

"We have a pretty wide area of focus at the moment, all the way from the Mid North Coast right the way down into the Sydney Metro area, and across the Mid North Coast today we are expecting to see the return of some heavy rainfall in locations," he said.

A road closed sign near a car
Roads were closed at Bents Basin Road, Wallacia in Sydney's west.(

ABC News: Brendan Esposito

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NSW SES Commander Michael Ward said there had been more than 300 flood rescues, with over 1,000 people so far rescued.

He acknowledged many flood-affected people had been left in the dark about what to do.

"We have a number of concerns for welfare, so we're working through those," he said.

"What obviously happens is that everyone relies on the mobile phone. And when they haven't had power for two days, they stop working."

More rain on the way

As the high pressure system continues to drive widespread rain onto the coast, it will bring damaging winds of around 60 to 70 kilometres per hour, with gusts of up to 90kph.

On Tuesday, very heavy surf and abnormally high tides are expected south of Moruya on the South Coast, where seawater flooding could occur in low-lying areas, bringing the highest tides of the year.

A hazardous surf warning is in place for Sydney, Illawarra, the Batemans and Eden coast.

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Residents evacuated as Sydney's Warragamba Dam overflows

Since the rain event began, more than 256mm has fallen at Minnie Water, east of Grafton on the Mid North Coast, while Nambucca Heads received 245mm and Coffs Harbour 183mm.

A flood evacuation order has been issued for the Kempsey CBD where the nearby Macleay River peaked at 6.4 metres at around 7:00am Monday.

A flooded road, a police car to the right and a man taking a photograph
The Lakes Way was closed north of Tuncurry and Forster on the Mid-North Coast leaving people with few places to go.(

ABC News: James Carmody

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Port Macquarie resident Matt Morris told the ABC watching the flood waters come in was like seeing an "inland sea".

"Most of the low-lying areas, we saw water, it was like an inland sea," he said.

"All that area that it came back down through had been hit by the fires at the beginning of the year."

Mr Morris said the water seemed to be flowing a lot harder than he had witnessed during a Kempsey flood in 2017.

"When we went through Macksville, all the old Pacific Highway was closed and houses [were] completely under."

A ruined side of a building with timber all broken, the foundations barely standing
Miss Nellie's Cafe in Kendall, on the state's Mid-North Coast, was badly damaged by powerful flooding.(

Facebook: Miss Nellie's Cafe

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The Insurance Council of Australia declared large parts of New South Wales an "insurance catastrophe" because of the widespread storms and floods.

The move means that insurance claims from affected people and businesses will be fast tracked.

The council says that it has received more than 5,000 damage claims over the past few days.

Disaster recovery assistance has been extended to a further 18 local government areas, including Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Hornsby, Northern Beaches and Penrith.

A graphic of nsw shows port mac, newcastle and sydney
Port Macquarie is still inundated with flood waters while emergency workers around Newcastle are urged to take caution.(

ABC News

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