Heavy rains isolate rural NSW communities

Heavy rains have isolated hundreds of people in northern NSW, as more wet weather is
expected to hit the area.
About 500 people in the rural Darkwood and upper Thora communities, near Coffs
Harbour, became cut off on Monday due to flooding along the upper Bellinger River,
the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) says.
"If we do get some further heavy rain (on Monday) those people may remain isolated
overnight," SES spokesman Phil Campbell told AAP.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued a flood watch until Tuesday for the
region with showers forecast to develop into heavy rain.
Rain and thunderstorms, which may lead to flash flooding, are forecast for the
Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands districts, the bureau says.
Further north, coastal communities near the Queensland border are bracing for wet
weather late on Monday and possibly on Tuesday that could bring minor flooding.
"We have a band of very heavy rain sitting off the coast at the moment, and there
are some concerns as to what that might do when it reaches the coast (on Monday
evening)," Mr Campbell said.
The Wilsons river at Lismore is expected to reach a height of 4.4m on Tuesday about
3am (AEDT), which would result in minor flooding.
West of Lismore, about 30 people on rural properties at Tabulam became isolated due
to heavy rain and flooding on Monday along the Clarence River, Mr Campbell said.
In the state's far west, near the border with Queensland, floodwaters are expected
to cut off the community of Goodooga on Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Once Goodooga is isolated in the middle of this week it will remain so for four
weeks and possibly as many as eight weeks," Mr Campbell said.
Unlike the northeast of NSW, the area around Goodooga is directly affected by water
moving south from flood-ravaged Queensland.