NSW flooding as it happened: Mid North Coast, Hunter regions battered by heavy rainfall; Evacuation orders issued as Manning River levels break almost 100-year record

The Age

21-05-2025

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Pinned post from 7.35pm
Thanks for joining us for our coverage of the Mid North Coast floods.
Here's the key points you need to know as we wrap up for the day: More than 48,000 people have been isolated by flooding on the NSW Mid North Coast, as unprecedented floodwaters cut off or inundated thousands of homes. Emergency services have responded to 284 flood rescues in the Mid North Coast and Hunter region in the past 24 hours, including 150 since midnight, as 280 millimetres of rainfall hit the area.
The Manning River at Taree is at a level never seen before, breaking an almost 100-year record as it passed six metres early on Wednesday. Taree has experienced one-third of its annual average rainfall in the past two days.
Access to disaster funding has been activated at both the state and federal levels.
Severe rainfall could continue until Friday, including in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour. Up to 200 millimetres is forecast for some areas. Emergency warnings have been issued for more than a dozen towns in the region.
Andrew Gissing, the chief executive of Natural Hazards Research Australia, said the flooding was the biggest on record for the area, and a one-in-500-year event.
With more rain on the forecast tomorrow, we'll be live again first thing on Thursday morning with all the latest updates as the situation develops. Latest posts
7.04pm
Minor to major flood and severe weather warnings remain in place across the NSW coast, with heavy downpours expected to continue on Thursday and Friday.
The rainfall on the Mid North Coast has well exceeded the Bureau of Meteorology's forecasts, receiving around double the amount of rain expected for the week so far.
Taree had seen at least 427mm over two days at 9am this morning, making it already the wettest May on record for the town.
6.27pm
Residents of low-lying areas on the Nambucca River are the latest to receive SES advice to evacuate now.
The prime minister has also shared a message of support to the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions.
'Our hearts are with all those impacted by the devastating floods across NSW,' he wrote on X.
Greens leader Larissa Waters says her heart goes out to those impacted by the NSW floods in the Hunter and on the Mid North Coast.
Greens senator Larissa Waters. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
'This is the climate crisis, and how much more can we expect people to bear?' she asked during an interview with ABC's Afternoon Briefing.
'I am from Meanjin, Brisbane, where we get big floods like that too, and it is so devastating, it is devastating to infrastructure.'
Waters said the floods are happening because we are 'burning too much coal and gas', but said that we 'don't have to keep doing that'.
'We've got amazing clean energy reserves here in Australia. We know they produce more jobs than old dirty fossil fuel energy, and we know they are cheaper, so we can keep people's power bills down and protect us from those worsening so-called natural disasters if we do that transition to clean energy.'
NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing is imploring residents in areas advised to evacuate to do so as soon as possible, as night falls across NSW.
'I cannot stress enough how important it is to heed the warnings of evacuations,' Wassing said at a Wollongong press conference.
Wassing at a press conference earlier this year. Credit: Steven Siewert
'We've already seen, over the past few nights, rescue conditions being extremely difficult and dangerous, particularly at nightfall.'
Wassing said that those impacted by the latest evacuation warnings, in particular those for Kempsey CBD, Smithtown and Gladstone, should evacuate now if possible.
'I cannot stress enough, that I cannot guarantee that our crews will be able to immediately rescue people if you do not evacuate and heed the warnings.'
In the past hour, there's been another tranche of emergency warnings from the SES, advising more people to evacuate now.
Residents of low-lying areas of Macksville, just inland from Nambucca Heads, are being told to leave now if it is safe to do so.
Here's the latest info on the status of the major grocery stores in the region:
Woolworths
All Woolworths and BIG W stores in Kempsey closed earlier today following a town evacuation from local authorities. A spokesperson for Woolworths said these stores will remain closed until further notice.
'Our thoughts are with all those impacted by floods on the Mid North Coast of NSW. All Woolworths stores from Newcastle to Port Macquarie remain open and deliveries of essential grocery items continue to travel to impacted communities.'
Coles
Coles has closed two stores in the Mid North Coast region in response to major flooding, and said they are actively monitoring the situation.
'Our Wingham and Kempsey stores have had to unfortunately close at this stage, and we will reopen these as soon as it is safe to do so,' a Coles spokesperson said.
Heavy rainfall over several rivers across the Hunter and the Mid North Coast has led to flooding in the regions.
Daily total rainfalls in excess of 200mm has seen the rivers break their banks in various locations.
Check out the map below to see where the key waterways run.
Photojournalist Kate Geraghty is on the Mid North Coast to capture what's happening on the ground as the floodwaters rise.
In one afternoon, Geraghty has photographed several of the SES' nearly 300 rescues, capturing families, a dog and even a fish.
Flick through our updating gallery to see Geraghty's work, and other images we've sourced from the scene.