South Coast bracing for potential flooding this week

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet visited the State Emergency Services headquarters in Wollongong on Sunday, to discuss the unfolding weather events and plan of attack by authorities.

The northern rivers down to mid-north coast plus northern tablelands were on high alert with severe weather and major flooding expected as the weather front crossed the border from Queensland.

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Bureau of Meteorology Senior Hydrologist Ailsa Schofield said the low pressure system had the potential to travel down the length of the state, but it wouldn't take much rain to see rivers break their banks.

"We're currently monitoring this system actively and we are expecting to see a renewed heavy rainfall day likely to be on Wednesday for the southern parts of the state," Ms Schofield said.

"Right now we're assessing the risk ... in many of our areas the land is already very saturated and very wet [due to La Nina], so it means we don't need enormous amounts of rainfall before we start seeing river rises and the potential for flooding."

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NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said as of Sunday, around 550 volunteers were assigned to the "biggest demand areas" of the Central Coast and northern rivers but they wouldn't be sending Illawarra personnel north just yet.

"The units on the South Coast are definitely into the planning stage, now we're working closely from headquarters with them and assessing what resources they will need," she said.

"But also they're out there messaging the community and ensuring the community is aware of the risk."

In the 24 hours to 9am Sunday Bellambi saw 70mm of rain, Albion Park Rail recorded 43mm of rain, and Kiama was drenched with 49.8mm of rainfall.

On Saturday, the Illawarra recorded the state's heaviest falls, with 63mm falling at Bellambi in the five hours up to 2pm that day.

For the first 27 days of February alone, Bellambi has recorded the second highest for the month in 25 years with a total of 387mm of rain - the top being 399.6mm in 2020.

On Friday the Bureau released their latest three-month weather outlook predicting the La Nina weather pattern to end mid-Autumn, although above-average autumn rainfall is likely for most areas of Australia.

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