Residents in Forbes, in central western NSW, are being warned more rain is on the way this weekend, but it's farmers who are expected to have had the worst of the recent flooding.
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The Bureau of Meteorology expects more rain is on its way to the region this weekend, with forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse telling AAP that "with rainfalls in wet catchments we're looking at the rivers rising again."
"We are expecting high rainfalls across the Central West over the weekend, with most of it falling on Sunday," she said.
"There is still uncertainty about what impact the rain is going to have when it comes to flooding, but there is the risk of riverine flooding and flash flooding across the central west"
The Lachlan River peaked at Forbes on Thursday morning at 10.53 metres, flooding some houses and destroying crops, but the town has so far avoided a repeat of 2016 when hundreds of houses were inundated.
Cottons Weir has experienced major flooding, while Jemalong is in for the same on Friday, with minor to moderate flooding likely at Condobolin later next week.
Some growers in the area have tried desperately to salvage any crops they could before more wet weather hits this weekend.
The damage bill for farmers in the region is expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
On Thursday disaster assistance was made available by the state and federal governments across several local government areas from the Blue Mountains, to Forbes and Moree.
NSW Farmers President James Jackson has welcomed the help, but says it's still "too early" to work out whether the bill will exceed the 2016 floods.
The NSW Premier flew into Forbes on Thursday morning to see the damage and thank hundreds of SES volunteers.
He visited Bedgerabong farmer Scott Darcy who had been preparing his thousand acre plus property for the past week.
"We're just getting ready for the water that's coming.. we've been relocating stock out of the low lying areas, and making sure they've got enough food," he said.
The sheep and crop farmer expects the worst of the weather to hit this weekend, " the worst thing is the peak of the flood is going to be right when it's raining."
He's already lost animals to the flood and expects to incur financial losses up to half a million dollars.
Upstream,Tom Green was racing to harvest his canola before more rain hit.
"With more rain predicted...we're going to try and get it in," Green told AAP.
"We've got a little window here .. the canola is ready to go so we'll just get whatever we can before the rain and flood waters."
He said it's an anxious time, "the water is still coming in but we're not sure what effect it's going to have."
Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller said the whole area continues to sit on a "knife's edge."
"We're already experiencing major flooding ... if we get more rain here in the catchment its going to cause real grief."
"If ... more rain comes to Forbes then we will have overland flooding... and we will need more releases from Wyangala dam", she said.
The SES has advised residents and businesses to keep their flood preparations in place with more rain forecast that may contribute to increased flooding and river rises.
Australian Associated Press
