The Manning River is flooding at a level never seen before at Taree, surpassing the 1929 record of six metres early this morning and is still rising.
Residents in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne may be isolated by floodwaters for several hours. In some locations people have been urged to move to higher ground, as rising floodwater and treacherous conditions are making rescues difficult to undertake.
Emergency Warnings are in place advising residents to evacuate immediately at Manning Point. Meanwhile, it is too late to leave for residents in parts of Wingham, Taree and Dumaresq Island.
Emergency Warnings are in place advising people to evacuate for Coopernook, Bulahdelah, Gloucester Caravan Park, Ferndale Caravan Park, parts of Paterson and parts of Dungog.
In the last 24 hours, NSW SES have responded to 892 incidents, including 130 flood rescues, with the bulk of these in the Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne areas. The flood rescues included several cars caught driving into flood water, and as the night progressed, many people reported rising water into their homes, with some needing to seek refuge on their roofs.
NSW SES State Duty Commander, Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone said emergency service partners along with the SES were responding to rescue requests as quickly as possible.
“Through the night, teams have undertaken a significant number of rescues at Taree, Port Macquarie and Ghini Ghini,” Assistant Commissionr Malone said.
“This is a dynamic situation where a number of evacuation warnings were issued through Tuesday and overnight, with residents door knocked as well. The NSW SES and our emergency service partners are deploying every available asset to assist with these rescues.
“Unfortunately, we’ve also had a large number of calls for help in areas that were subject to evacuation warnings and we are still assessing how best to access those locations. We’ve advised those people needing assistance to move to higher ground, as we’re unable to currently access by boat, road or air due to the current weather conditions.”
In one of the more significant incidents overnight, 24 people were rescued from the flooded Pacific Highway at Ghini Ghini.
NSW SES has also been responding to major flooding on the Hastings River, Gloucester River, Williams River and Paterson River.
Severe weather is expected to continue during Wednesday, with prolonged moderate to heavy rainfall from the Mid North Coast, through to Grafton. Locally intense rainfall may also lead to dangerous life-threatening flash flooding during Wednesday morning for elevated inland parts of the Mid North Coast district. Six-hourly rainfall totals between 100 and 140 mm are possible. 24-hourly rainfall totals between 150 and 200 mm are possible.
Locations which may be affected include Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Kempsey, Woolgoolga, Sawtell, Dorrigo, Wingham and Yarrowitch.
If you are concerned about a family member or friend, NSW Police are encouraging those within the impacted flood areas to register their movements using the Australian Red Cross’ ‘Register, Find, Reunite’ service at: https://www.redcross.org.au/emergencies/about-register-find-reunite/
For help in floods and storms contact the NSW SES on 132 500 or in life-threatening situations call Triple Zero (000).
Operational update:
Current Emergency Warnings
Manning Point – Evacuate Now
Low Lying areas of Wingham – move to higher ground
Parts of Taree and Dumaresq Island – move to higher ground
Redbank – Evacuate Now
Croki and Surrounds including Moto – Shelter Now
Parts of Coopernook – Evacuate before 5pm 20 May
Parts of Bulahdelah – Evacuate now
Gloucester Caravan Park – Evacuate before 6am 20 May
Ferndale Caravan Park – Evacuate Now
Parts of Paterson – Evacuate before 11;30pm 19 May
Parts of Dungog- Evacuate before11:30pm 19 May
Incidents by Zone:
Northern Zone: 810
Metro Zone: 18
North Eastern Zone: 14
South Eastern Zone: 5
Norther Western Zone: 3
Southern Zone: 3
Western Zone: 2
State HQ: 2
Busiest locations:
Taree: 109
Port Macquarie: 85
Wingham: 52
Glenthorne: 25
Raymond Terrace: 20
Gloucester: 15
Old Bar: 15
Wauchope: 14
Harrington: 11
Media enquiries: NSW SES Media on 1800 067 234