A house has floated down the Manning River, near Taree, as the deluge from a dangerous weather system continues to flow in several areas in NSW.
Emergency services received nearly 600 calls for help during the night with more rain forecast over the weekend. Photo: Facebook / NSW State Emergency Service
Flood waters had inundated the home in Wingham, a Mid-North Coast township which was evacuated earlier on Saturday.
Dozens of homes throughout the state have been battered by damaging winds and heavy rainfall on Saturday,
There are currently nine evacuation centres in NSW, seven on the Mid-North Coast and two in the Hunter region as the severe weather event is set to continue well into next week.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has warned that the state is experiencing a "prolonged weather event".
"None of us are out of the woods while the storm front is moving south, it is still going to be prolonged. The rain may not stop till Thursday or Friday," she said.
A street in the NSW town of Wauchope flooded quickly overnight. Photo: Facebook / NSW State Emergency Service
"We will make sure we provide a smart information to the community but the most critical thing at this stage is to please respond to potential evacuation orders, the SES (NSW State Emergency Service) are doing their best to predict what might happen in the next few hours."
Chester Hill in Sydney's west was hit with a mini-tornado about 9:00am, bringing down trees, roofs and power lines leaving thousands without electricity.
The SES has responded to calls in the area and is working to "keep the community safe," NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said.
"We hope it won't happen again, it is an unusual event [mini-tornado] but that doesn't mean it can't happen again," she said.
"It is very difficult to prepare for such a spontaneous, significant weather event. As the Minister and the Premier and I say, please don't go on the roads because he could have been caught in that Chester Hill area just by passing through, if your trip is not urgent please remain where you are and remain safe."
Maryanne Tafeuni, a resident of Chester Hill, said her home was quickly enveloped by the wild weather.
"In a split second - as I was looking outside the house - it felt like it was literally moving and all I can see from the window is leaves, and things together," she said.
"I thought it was just heavy rain but as soon as I heard the crack of the window at the front I knew it was something else, so I had to gather the kids and get down because it was moving.
"The house was literally moving."
Torrential rain forced organisers to reschedule The Golden Slipper meeting at Rosehill after it was determined the Western Sydney track unsafe for racing on Saturday.
Both the W-League and A-League clash between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory have also been called off.
Emergency services attended two flood rescues in Western Sydney on Saturday.
Photo: Facebook / NSW State Emergency Service
The New South Wales State Emergency Service (SES) said two cars became trapped in the same area at Schofields where there was water over the road.
Meanwhile, Warragamba Dam, Sydney's main water source, is at risk of spilling over as a dangerous weather system pushes over Sydney.
The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) Jonathan Howe said the dangerous coastal trough has seen major flood warnings issued for the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers.
"We are expecting 100-150 millimetres across the metro area [of Sydney] and inland into places like Canberra through the weekend," he said.
"There is real concern for the Warragamba Dam which is currently at 95 per cent capacity, and if we add 200 millimetres over the weekend, there are likely to be spillages from that dam."
The BOM issued a warning for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and surf today as the state braces for more wild weather into Sunday.
Affected areas include Hunter, metropolitan, Illawarra, Southern Tablelands, Australian Capital Territory and parts of Mid-North Coast, south coast, Central Tablelands, south-west slopes and Snowy Mountains forecast districts.
Parts of NSW have evacuated as severe weather caused "life-threatening" flash flooding, including Taree, Dungog, Wingham, Port Macquarie, Cundletown, Lower Macleay, North Haven, Dunbogan and Laurieton.
Evacuation warnings were also in place for low-lying areas of Macksville, North Macksville, Kings Point and Kempsey.
More than 17,000 people across the state were subject to the evacuation orders.
Records at Kindee Bridge were smashed yesterday as the water level reached 12.11 metres at 11:00pm on Friday, exceeding February 2013's high.
The BOM's Agata Imielska said the Mid-North Coast and Hunter had also seen "record-breaking" rainfall for March, with 100-200mm above the previous record.
"We have seen 405 millimetres recorded at Kendall, so that's a record heaviest rainfall that we've seen, also, 371 millimetres at Red Oak," she said.
"It's a very significant, record-breaking event with the rainfall that we have seen."
Overnight, the SES responded to 180 flood rescues, and received 581 calls for help, mostly concentrated in the Mid-North Coast and Hunter Valley regions.
Tony Weber, from the SES, said evacuation efforts faced staffing challenges overnight, due to several evacuation orders occurring at once.
"It is a significant weather event and we're asking people to be very mindful of the situation."
- ABC