A man aged in his 70s had to be rescued from a house after rapidly rising waters caused localised flooding in parts of New South Wales, including in the Snowy Mountains region.
A flash flood hit the town of Tumbarumba, with the local creek — part of the Murray catchment within the Murray Darling basin — swelling up and flooding the local oval, caravan park and roads.
"We have had one house which required a flood rescue, so we had to .… get them through the water," NSW State Emergency Service spokesman Ian Leckie said.
"There has been significant flooding around the sports field, caravan park and around Hampton Avenue.
"Water has got into the sewer mains, which means drinking water is contaminated."
The Snowy Valleys council had been moving people out of the caravan park since the beginning of the week because of the forecast heavy rain, Mr Leckie said.
He said the floodwaters were expected to move into the Upper Murray area on Sunday, impacting nearby Jingellic.
There have been 100 calls for help across the state, with rain and strong winds impacting homes in a wide area including Sydney, the NSW SES said.
A severe thunderstorm warning is in place for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall for people across a wide area of NSW, Australian Capital Territory, including parts of the Hunter, Southern Tablelands, Riverina, and Snowy Mountains districts.
The state's south west and central west has seen widespread rainfall on Saturday and a cold southerly change is expected to hit eastern parts of the state overnight.
"We are expecting a southerly change around midnight, with more storms expected across the state tonight," the NSW Bureau of Meteorology's Helen Reid said.
The BOM said there had been a combined rainfall of about 30mm over the past 24 hours.
