'Skin-crawling' video shows spider infestations in NSW floods
Residents in NSW aren't the only ones struggling to deal with a deluge of rainfall that has flooded parts of the state, with videos of hundreds of spiders scrambling to reach higher ground being shared on social media.
Shenea Varley had just dropped her kids off at school when she spotted hundreds of spiders making their way up a fence in Sydney to escape rising floodwater.
“They will climb up your legs to get shelter as well if you’re not careful,” she wrote in the video on TikTok which has been viewed over one million times.
Spider infestation branded 'stuff of nightmares'
While on Facebook Melanie Williams from Macksville near the Nambucca River in NSW shared footage of her neighbours' garage, where a cluster of spiders and other bugs were seen scrambling up walls to reach drier ground.
"So many SPIDERS from the floodwater," Ms Williams captioned the skin crawling video.
"The stuff of nightmares," one person responded.
"Time to burn the house down!" another user declared.
Over on TikTok many viewers from around the world couldn’t fathom the idea of that many spiders in one space.
“Thank God I’m in the states because I wouldn’t make it,” one woman commented.
“Every single video I watch filmed in Australia is just reaffirming why I will not go there,” another person added.
NSW towns to be isolated for days
Flooding in NSW is expected to continue with evacuation orders in place for low-lying areas of Macksville, Port Macquarie, the lower Macleay, Wauchope and Rawdon Island, Taree and Wingham.
In Sydney, parts of Penrith and other areas along the Nepean were ordered to evacuate on Sunday.
A number of towns across the state have been isolated for days, some without fresh water or power.
Roads have been cut off, hundreds of homes are inundated and 200 schools shut.
Couple devastated after losing home to floods on wedding day
'Nightmare': Historic deluge may 'get a lot worse', go on for days
Heavy rain will remain a serious risk for the Mid-North Coast on Monday and Tuesday, where communities are facing the worst flooding conditions since 1929.
Communities along the Hawkesbury River are also bracing for the worst flooding in the area since 1961, with the river predicted to reach a peak of up to 15 metres on Monday night.
People are being asked to move possessions up high, take pets, essential items, warm clothes, medicines, insurance documents and valuables with them, and stay with family or friends, or head to evacuation centres.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was a miracle no lives had been lost.
"I don't want to jinx it, but until this point in time, no one has lost their lives which is pretty much a miracle given what we've been through," she said.
"The priority right here and now is getting people out safely from their homes and saving as many people ... and property as much as possible," the premier said.
Already 2800 residents had been evacuated but this could escalate to 54,000 if weather bureau predictions eventuate.
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