More residents are returning home to river towns near Sydney as the clean up from floods continues.
Emergency services told people they can return with caution to areas including Sackville North, the northern part of Pitt Town, low-lying parts of Agnes Banks, Cornwallis and the eastern part of Richmond Lowlands on Monday afternoon, June 10.
The only areas the NSW State Emergency Service is still advising people to avoid are Cattai, Marayla and their surrounds.
All residents of Cattai’s Riverside Ski Park were advised to evacuate on Friday night (June 7).
Residents of Pitt Town Bottoms, Camden and Ellis Lane were allowed to return on Sunday morning (June 9), but the NSW State Emergency Service urged people to remain wary around the Hawkesbury Nepean catchment.
A minor flood warning remained in place at the Hawkesbury River, where 600 residents in low-lying areas were ordered to evacuate on the night of June 7
A final warning was active at the St Georges Basin on June 10 afternoon, while warnings at the Hastings and Cooks rivers are no longer in place.
The immediate threat of more damaging rain has eased, with the Bureau of Meteorology not forecasting significant falls over the next few days.
“Our priority is to get people back to normal as soon as possible,” NSW SES Acting Commissioner Deb Platz said.
“We do not need to see significant rain to bring riverine and flash flooding ... as we have saturated catchments and full dams the rivers can rise very quickly.”
Motorists in flood-affected areas are being urged to drive carefully, with damage expected to buildings, roads and bridges.
The SES said it responded to almost 300 incidents in the 24 hours to 8am on June 8 including 13 flood rescues, and issued 45 warnings across the state.
