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Flood emergency continues for NSW & Victoria

Thousands of Australians are preparing for more flooding as authorities warn that more heavy rain and gale-force winds are due across New South Wales and Victoria.

New South Wales

Persistent heavy rain has put three quarters of New South Wales under water, with 1660 people forced from their homes so far.

100 residents of the south coast town of Bega were evacuated on Thursday night, adding to around 600 Goulburn residents who were also evacuated on Thursday.

A day earlier, 900 residents fled their homes in the Snowy Mountains town of Cooma along with 60 people in the central west town of Cowra.

People living in 340 properties in the outer western Sydney regions of Pitt Town, Gronos Point and Lower Richmond have also been placed on alert as authorities make final preparations ahead of the imminent spill of Warragamba Dam, which is now at full capacity. The dam will join the growing list of four major dams - Cataract, Cordeaux, Tallowa and Avon - at full capacity following significant rainfall in the last 48 hours.

Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) staff have been working around the clock to prepare for the opening of the floodgates and the release of water into the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers.

SCA acting chief executive Sarah Dinning said the massive water release is part of standard flood preparations and was expecting the floodgates to be opened in a matter of hours.

"Once Warragamba Dam is 80mm above its full storage level, the first drum gate opens automatically.

"If the water level rises to 230mm above full storage level, the four radial gates on either side of the drum gate also open."

Ms Dinning also said the water released would flow down the spillway into a pond, which would act as an energy dissipater and slow the water before it flowed down the Warragamba River and into the Hawkesbury-Nepean system.

State Emergency Services (SES) incident controller for western Sydney Keith Fitzgerald has warned residents of flood-affected areas against complacency, saying residents could put themselves and their families at risk if they failed to heed warnings.

"Folk will continue to try to go about their day-to-day business and in doing so put their families and themselves at risk," Mr Fitzgerald said.

NSW SES deputy commissioner Steve Pearce said there were a number of people rescued from floodwaters overnight, adding to the 13 flood rescues the SES has carried out since the rains began.

"On quite a few occasions the SES volunteers had to rescue people from their homes using flood boats because that's the only way they were able to access them with the raging torrents," he said.


Victoria

In Victoria, thousands of residents are bracing for more flooding and wild weather with predictions of up to 100mm of rain for Saturday on top of the 200mm already dumped this week.

Deputy Premier and Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan said army trucks have arrived to the town of Shepparton to ferry sandbags, food and water to isolated residents.

SES operations director Trevor White said crews were better prepared than ever to deal with floods thanks to control centres in Wangaratta, Bairnsdale and Shepparton, with the SES mobilising people, equipment and about 30,000 sandbags to date.

Mr White said 130 roads were closed, with more closures likely, and identified the regions of Yarrawonga, Beechworth, Yackandandah, Myrtleford, Bright and Mt Beauty as the areas of most concern.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Peter Blake has warned an already drenched south-east Victoria to expect up to 80mm of rain on Saturday.

"I think we will start to see it rain at midnight or shortly after over northeastern Victoria."

He also warned that the heaviest rain of 50mm to 80mm would occur during the day, adding, "I can't rule out somewhere getting 100mm, especially around the ranges."

Over the past week, parts of the northeast of the state have recorded rainfall well above 100mm, with Albury receiving 192mm, Wangaratta 196mm, Mangalore 161mm and Shepparton 114mm.


Australian Capital Territory

There was major flooding in the ACT as the Molonglo River peaked, as Lake Burley Griffin remains closed for at least a week due to contamination by partially-treated sewage.

Near Canberra, up to 400 people are preparing to evacuate if called to do so, along with some residents on the south coast living near the Jerrara Dam.

A 43-year old Queanbeyan man was rescued by the SES after jumping into the flooded Queanbeyan River after threatening self-harm, adding to the 520 calls for help that have been received by Emergency Services in Canberra since the rain began earlier this week.