Lismore residents have once again been ordered to evacuate their homes overnight, just hours after being given the all clear to return.
An evacuation order was reissued at 12.30am on Wednesday for residents of the CBD, Lismore Basin and low-lying areas of East Lismore and Girards Hill.
NSW SES assistant commissioner Nicole Hogan told ABC News that intense rainfall fell overnight in Lismore’s CBD and across the coastal fringe of the Northern Rivers leading to flash flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology has revised their flood warning with fears that the Lismore levee will overtop at its maximum level of 10.6m.
“I’m standing at the levee wall right now, because we are about half a metre away from overtopping the levee and flooding our town for the second time of the month,” Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg told Sunrise.
“When it gets to 10.6, we are buggered here”.
Emergency services ordered residents to evacuate the same areas by 4pm on Tuesday.
By 6pm, residents of the CBD and low-lying partxjmtzyws of Billinudgel and Mullumbimby were allowed to return home with caution after rivers fell below minor flood levels.
Evacuation orders remained in place for parts of North and South Lismore.
Residents are advised to stay with friends or family or head to the evacuation centre at Southern Cross University at Military Road in Lismore.
“We’re likely to see more evacuation warnings for communities out this morning in some of the Northern Rivers districts,” Ms Hogan said.
