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More rain for Hunter amid calls for relief

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A low pressure system that brought pulsating rains and damaging winds to southern and western NSW is expected to push further east.

It comes amid widespread flooding across the state as extended heavy rain falls in areas where the ground is already saturated and rivers already high.

Australia is on track for its wettest spring in a decade and some regions in NSW have already received more than three times their normal rainfall for November.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on Friday morning warned severe thunderstorms are likely to bring damaging winds and more heavy rainfall to parts of the Hunter, Mid-North Coast and north west slopes and plains regions.

Denman Road is closed from the Bengalla Link Road intersection, at Muswellbrook, to the Golden Highway intersection.

Flash flooding is possible, with towns including Newcastle, Gosford, Maitland, Tamworth, Gunnedah and Narrabri warned to be on high alert.

Extended heavy rain has fallen in areas where the ground is already saturated and rivers already high, such as the Upper Hunter. Photo: Jane Walmsley

Riverine flooding is threatening many towns across the state, with the rainfall causing a bevvy of inland rivers to surge.

Major flooding is still underway on the Lachlan River in the state’s central west, with floodwaters currently coursing through Jemalong on their way to Condobolin.

However, all Forbes residents have now been given the all clear to return home after the river in the town fell below minor flood levels.

During the height of floods in Forbes earlier this month, close to 2000 residents were ordered to evacuate and the river peaked at 10.54 metres, above major flood levels but below the peak during previous flooding in 2016. 

The Castlereagh River, also in the state’s central west, has reached moderate flood levels, with Mendooran and Gilgandra expected to feel the impact.

Floodwaters have crept into Molong, with the creek in the town at moderate flood levels, and moderate flooding is expected along the Bell River at Wellington from midday.

Minor flooding continues along the Macquarie River at Wellington Bridge.

In the New England region, major flooding is occurring along the Namoi River at Wee Waa, which has been cut off from other towns.

The river has fallen in nearby Gunnedah, but moderate flooding is still underway.

Minor flooding is occurring at Narrabri, but the river is expected to exceed moderate flood levels on Friday.

Many of the areas impacted by the deluge in recent weeks have been farmland, with growers watching paddocks go underwater and their crops destroyed after so many years of drought conditions.

That has prompted NSW Farmers Association to call for a statewide natural disaster declaration so relief funds can be accessed.

The rainy weather isn’t likely to ease significantly any time soon either, with the BoM’s outlook for the summer in NSW predicting wet weather.

Temperatures will be cooler than usual on the coast and warmer than usual in the state’s west.

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