New South Wales State Emergency Service officers in Lismore wade through a river. Photo: NSW SES
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) is advising people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel as significant rainfall impacts much of the NSW east coast.
Multiple areas in NSW experienced its heaviest rain in two years, in the 24 hours to 9am today, ABC meteorologist Tom Saunders said.
A severe storm warning is in place for communities from Gosford in the north, to Batemans Bay in the south, across to Goulburn, with damaging winds and very heavy rain possible. Meanwhile, residents on the Bellingen River at Thora and Darkwood have been advised to prepare for isolation.
Residents in these communities might find themselves cut off by flood water and without power, water and other essential services.
NSW SES assistant commissioner Sean Kearns said conditions were likely to worsen over the next few hours.
"There's potential for very large downpours of rain between the Blue Mountains and Narooma, which could lead to life-threatening flash flooding," Kearns said.
The NSW SES said it had responded to more than 800 incidents in the last 24 hours.
The wild weather has caused issues at Sydney Airport with more than 100 flights cancelled through domestic arrivals and departures.
Transport for NSW said there have been "major delays" across the Sydney Trains and NSW Trainlink networks because of the heavy rain.
Passengers have been advised to avoid non-essential travel.
Ausgrid said power has been restored to hundreds of businesses and homes after "significant rainfall" caused a major power outage in the Sydney CBD.
It said 1300 customers were affected after a substation flooded on Goulburn and Pitt streets.
Major flood warning issued for south-west Queensland
A south-west Queensland town is due to close its flood levee ahead of major flooding, as the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecasts heavy falls for the south-east into the weekend, the ABC is reporting.
Senior forecaster Laura Boekel said rain and thunderstorms would continue today and tomorrow, with possible falls of up to 100 millimetres.
"It's very important to note that in some parts of the south and south-east, we're seeing moisture of the soil and the catchments quite high, so that means catchments, rivers, creeks can respond quite rapidly," she said.
"We could see responses from moderate rainfall this weekend."
Up to 100mm has already fallen near Charleville in the last 24 hours, causing the Warrego River to swell.
BOM issued a major flood warning for the town, with the river predicted to peak at 6.7 metres around 6pm.
The town's levee is due to close shortly.
Karen Tully was in Charleville in 1990 when the town was evacuated.
Back then they didn't have a levee bank.
"We live with the comfort now that there is a very large degree of mitigation in place," she said.
"It's the only topic in town today, but people aren't too worried."
Queensland police deputy commissioner Shane Chelepy said floodwaters were expected to cut off Charleville and nearby towns.
"The levee has a capacity of approximately 7.9 metres which will protect the town, and we're not expecting the flood waters to exceed that," he said.
"We can expect these floodwaters to stay up over the next two to three days."
The SES has had 59 calls for help since Wednesday.
"We're asking people to remain vigilant. With the current weather conditions, flash flooding can occur in minutes," Brian Cox, from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, said.
-ABC