Evacuation orders have been issued in Northern New South Wales overnight as severe rainfall, flash flooding, and damaging winds persist in the state’s north.

At 5am on Tuesday, the State Emergency Service (SES) said they had received 1,405 calls for assistance and made 22 rescues in the past 24 hours. People in Dungog, Gloucester Holiday Park, Ferndale Caravan Park, and parts of Bulahdelah and Paterson were all urged to leave. They said if residents decided to stay, it may become “too dangerous” for the SES to rescue them.

About 160mm of rain fell in six hours overnight in Taree, which caused “significant sudden-onset flash flooding”, and led to an Emergency Warning which has since been downgraded.

State Premier Chris Minns warned residents not to drive through flood waters.

“Don’t even think about driving through floodwater, you could risk your own life as well as the people who are sent in to save you,” he said.

Currently, there are still 14 Watch and Act level warnings and 36 Advice level warnings for flooding across the Mid North Coast and Hunter regions. Since the flooding began, there have been a total of 2,251 calls for assistance across NSW, with 31 rescues being carried out by the SES. Both numbers are expected to grow.

As the state’s north suffers from intense rain and flash flooding, farmers in the south continue to struggle with intense drought which is also predicted to worsen.

Photo: ‘Roads and farms submerged in July 2022 floods’ by Qumarchi and found HERE and used under a Creative Commons License. This image has not been modified.