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Flooding rains swamp northeastern NSW

Ben McBurney, Wednesday August 27, 2014 - 14:21 AEST

Heavy rain leading to flooding has drenched northeastern New South Wales overnight with more on the way.

A complex low pressure system off the east coast has driven widespread rain and thunderstorms over the state's northeast.

The brunt of the rain begun just prior to midnight and has not let up since, with the heaviest falls so far focused over the Mid North Coast.

Mount Seaview and Comboyne collected 141mm and 172mm respectively in the 24 hours to 9am today, the heaviest rain since March last year, while Kempsey recorded 115mm, its wettest August day since 2007. The rain was torrential at times, with 8mm falling in just 10 minutes at Kempsey around 8:30am today.

For the remainder of the day and into Thursday morning, the focus of the rain will be from Coffs Harbour north to about Lismore, where a further 75mm to 150mm is possible.

Flood warnings are in place for several rivers in the Mid North Coast, including the Bellinger, Hastings and Orara rivers. Riverine flooding is likely to spread to parts of the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands over the next 24 hours.

Conditions will rapidly ease from Thursday as the low moves slowly east towards New Zealand. Only a few showers are likely to linger until early Saturday, before dry conditions ensue for the remainder of the week as a high pressure system moves over the state.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2014

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