Residents of Forbes and those living in surrounding flood-prone areas were told to leave by 7am on Tuesday as heavy flooding hit central west NSW.
The State Emergency Service issued the evacuation warning, saying the Lachlan River was rising faster than expected and people should get out or risk being cut off.
There are 120 warnings statewide, including 24 at the emergency level, and more than 12 evacuation centers have been set up.
The Bureau of Meteorology said major flooding would occur in Forbes from the early hours of Tuesday and water levels would peak at 10.8 meters on Wednesday, similar to the level reached in the June 1952 flood .
The warning comes just over a week after Forbes experienced record flooding that damaged homes, businesses and roads.
Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller says people are shocked by another flood so soon.
“They can’t believe this could happen twice in such a short period of time,” he told ABC TV.
People were working hard with sandbags to protect their property, but they needed more support.
“This is truly heartbreaking. Our farming community and our businesses are suffering terribly,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Macquarie River peaked at 6.64 meters on Monday night, just below the height of Bathurst’s biggest flood of 6.7 meters in 1998, which devastated the city.
However, the city’s levee managed to hold and is no longer expected to spill after river levels dropped substantially overnight.
Despite this good news, the Bathurst cleanup effort looks set to be immense for Tuesday.
“With all the rain over the weekend, we’re still seeing significant flooding for large parts of the country, particularly Bathurst and Forbes,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said.
“For many of these rivers, once we see the peaks upstream we’ll have a better idea of what we can expect further down,” said Mr.
A cold front will move south on Tuesday, with some snow expected in southern parts of NSW, before a high pressure system from the south sees conditions clear on Wednesday.
with AAP