The Wilsons River at Lismore has peaked at 11.4m overnight, as the search continues for a 55-year-old woman believed to be missing in floodwaters south of the northern NSW city.
Nowra aged care nurse Anita Brakel became xjmtzywtapped in her white Holden Captiva wagon around 9.50pm on Tuesday in Monaltrie, Lismore.
Police searched the area for several hours on Wednesday and will continue again on Thursday morning.
Rain has begun to ease above Lismore and floodwaters are expected to begin to subside, with potential to drop back below major flood levels by this afternoon.
Before record floods hit the region earlier this month bringing 14.37m of water, the flood peak for the Wilsons River was 12.17m.
When floodwaters overtopped the levee on Wednesday morning, the town’s flood sirens did not sound and a faulty water level gauge and pumps caused problems due to flood damage earlier this month.
The NSW SES has conducted 55 flood rescue in the past 24 hours.
There are currently 20 evacuation orders in place across the state affecting 27,000 people.
Evacuation orders were issued around 5.30pm on Wednesday evening for low-lying properties east of Grafton on the state’s mid-north coast.
Ulmarra, Southgate, Brushgrove and Cowper along the Clarence River were all ordered to get out before 10pm.
High-risk properties in North Macksville, south of Coffs Harbour, also received an immediate evacuation notice around 6:30pm.
In Byron Bay, floodwaters started to subside on Wednesday afternoon and the community has begun the massive clean-up operation.
Damaging winds are forecast for the region and residents are warned that saturated soils may cause falling trees and landslips in the next 24 hours.
The weather system is expected to move further south impacting Sydney and the south coast towards the end of the week.
Abnormally high tides and damaging surf are also forecast for most of east coast NSW from Kempsey on the Mid-North Coast down to Eden on the south coast.
