Nearly 30,000 residents of west Sydney will be able to return home today to begin the lengthy process of another post-flood clean-up.
But the flood emergency is far from over, with more than 6,000 people evacuated from the Hunter region and 5,000 more preparing to leave at any one time.
Disaster payments will be available starting today, and thousands are still under evacuation orders in northwest Sydney.
A flooded football field in Singleton, in the NSW Hunter region. (9 News)
Additional defense personnel have been deployed in the north of the state, as the threat of flooding in Hunter and the north central coast intensifies.
NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke warned on Wednesday that the state’s flood disaster was far from over as rain moved north, even when the waters of the floods began to recede in Sydney.
“While it can be tempting for people to come home, we really ask you to abide by these evacuation orders,” Cooke said.
“There’s a reason they’re in place right now and it’s to protect you.”
Residents of parts of Penrith, Windsor, Camden, Emu Plains, Chipping Norton and a good handful of other suburbs had been allowed to return home if they are safe Wednesday night, but dozens of evacuation orders were kept .
In Hunter, suburbs like Wollombi, Bulga and Broke remain cut off by flood waters as more cities are threatened by disaster.
A local pub in the region, the Wollombi Tavern, is just one of many businesses affected by the floodwaters after Wollombi Creek peaked at more than 14 meters this morning.
“Flooding is just an insidious thing,” Wollombi Tavern publicist Chris Books said after Wollombi Creek hit a high of more than 14 feet Wednesday morning.
“You live in this area, it’s prone to flooding. The tavern is the center of Wollombi.
Many roads are closed in the inner cities of Newcastle. (9 News)
“We are a tourist town, without the tavern, we will not reach the tourists, without the tourists we will not exist.
“As soon as the water goes down, we can get beers out.”
The wider Singleton region was a major focus for overnight emergency services, as the Bureau of Meteorology predicted a 13.8-meter peak in the Hunter River.
Simone Merrick, a public intelligence officer with the Singleton State Emergency Service, said evacuation orders were in effect in various parts of the region and that the SES had been assisting Broke and Bulga.
He praised the locals for heeding the warnings to stay out of the flood waters.
“We just want to remind you that as the flood water starts to go down, you weren’t aware of the damage that has been done to the road below,” Merrick said Wednesday afternoon, making himself known. echoing the warnings of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet.
“So please don’t be pleased and start driving through this flood water, as it can still be very dangerous, even if it doesn’t move.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet visit the community organization Helping Hands from Hawkesbury to South Windsor after the floods. (Getty)
On Wednesday afternoon, the office canceled a severe weather warning that had been rolling off the NSW coast for days.
Parts of the NSW Hunter region are submerged as flooding moves north
“A low pressure system is located east of Port Macquarie,” he said. “The minimum is expected to move further along the east coast for the rest of tonight and during Thursday morning, with drier and more stable air developing as a result.
“Severe weather no longer occurs in NSW and ACT.”