Canberra and surrounding regions were warned to brace for potential flooding overnight as major dumps of rain were forecast to hit the areas from midnight.
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Emergency services said an evacuation warning for Queanbeyan was likely in the early hours of this morning should torrential rain hit the town. Falls of up to 150mm are expected in Queanbeyan today.
According to the State Emergency Service, some evacuations had taken place in Tumut and Cowra.
Cooma and Goulburn were issued evacuation warnings after Goulburn Airport recorded almost 100mm of rain in less than 24 hours and Cooma Airport more than 30mm.
Sydney's Warragamba Dam is also on the verge of overflowing for the first time in more than a decade.
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Francois Geffroy said flood watches and severe weather warnings for southern NSW and the ACT would probably be in place until the weekend.
''The rain will intensify overnight and into tomorrow,'' he said late yesterday. ''It's going to be continuous for the next several days and it's going to be high totals. The major concern is the accumulation of rain over each day.''
Emergency services also warned that Oaks Estate, Pialligo and the Lower Molonglo areas of the territory could be subject to ''significant flooding'' if intense rainfall continued overnight.
Locals in the area were urged to be wary of the flood threat and the Emergency Services Agency planned to use the telephone alert system, which partly failed during last year's toxic chemical fire in Mitchell, to advise of a possible evacuation.
The rain is also expected to cause significant roof damage. ACT SES has received more than 80 calls for help for minor damage and flooding because of the wet weather.
NSW SES Queanbeyan has responded to more than 20 calls for help from people requesting sandbags.
The unit's Queanbeyan spokesman Mitchell Clout urged residents to prepare and tipped some might hear from the services in the early hours of this morning, when an evacuation order may have been issued.
But locals Ray Whitfield and John Singh, who have lived at Old Kent House, an apartment complex in Queanbeyan, for 10 years, doubted they would see a repeat of the floods in 2010.
''We're only getting light rain at the moment, the big heavy rain we haven't got it yet,'' Mr Whitfield said. ''Last time it was torrential rain and it happened quick.''
The apartment complex has been sandbagged in preparation for potential flooding. It received significant flooding damage during 2010.
Nearby campers at Queanbeyan Riverside Tourist Park, which was also hit by the floods in 2010, were told to ''move to higher ground'' yesterday in case the area was hit by floods again.
The heavy rains have also threatened construction works at the Cotter Dam enlargement project, as water spills over the old Cotter Dam.
ACTEW has begun moving equipment and gear, with fears that intense rainfall could see water spill over the new Cotter Dam.
Landholders and graziers in low lying areas are also being urged to move livestock to higher grounds as a precaution against possible floods. The ACT government has contacted landholders at greatest risk.
Correction: This article originally stated evacuation orders were in place for Captains Flat, but this was not correct and has been removed from the story. NSW SES has said Captains Flat is not currently under threat.
