Flooding in Gloucester, NSW after the Gloucester River breached its banks. Photo / Dave Ireland, NSW Incidents Alerts
Flooding in Gloucester, NSW after the Gloucester River breached its banks. Photo / Dave Ireland, NSW Incidents Alerts
Devastating footage has captured the moment a young Australian couple's home was swept away in flood waters on New South Wales' mid north coast.
A video shared by local woman Ciara Knox showed the house being swept down the flooded Manning River near the town of Taree. "Heartbreaking," she wrote.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support the couple who lived in the home.
"On 20th March our brother Joshua and his fiancée Sarah lost their entire home and belongings to the flood waters in Mondrook, NSW, on the mid north coast," the GoFundMe page reads.
"What was supposed to be their wedding day ended up with their house floating down river and them losing everything they have worked hard for and sadly losing their pets as well.
Flooding in Taree, on NSW's Mid North Coast. Photo / LJ Hooker Taree
"We are trying to raise money to help them start again, anything would be much appreciated."
NSW emergency services have set up a number of emergency evacuation centres for residents told to leave their homes as dangerous conditions cause flooding throughout parts of NSW.
Evacuation orders have been issued for low-lying properties in Central Wingham and the Wingham Peninsular, Taree Estate, Dumaresq Island and Cundletown, Laurieton, North Haven, Dunbogan and Diamond Head, Kings Point and Macksville, Wauchope and Rawdon Island, Bulahdelah, the Kempsey CBD, the Lower Macleay and Port Macquarie.
Images and video posted earlier today on social media showed widespread flooding in the town of Port Macquarie after it was pelted with more than 180mm of rain yesterday.
"Woke up this morning to these images on my timeline," Twitter user Paul Jobber wrote. "Unbelievable. Port Macquarie CBD has gone under."
In Sydney, residents are being urged to stay inside this weekend as dangerous levels of rain are expected to cause continued flash flooding.
"This will be the difference between what could seem like inconvenient rain, to actually something that might be quite dangerous and threatening," Agata Imielska from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said.
"It is really important for Sydneysiders to be mindful about reconsidering their plans."
It comes after much of the mid north coast was battered by heavy rainfall on Friday, leaving emergency services scrambling to help stranded residents who were inundated at their homes.
