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Man's body recovered from floodwaters as severe weather to impact flood-affected NSW communities

Giant hail, damaging winds, severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall is forecast to hit already flood-affected communities in southern and western New South Wales over the next three days and will continue into next week.

Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke says emergency services, residents and volunteers are doing everything they can to prepare.

"It's now a wait-and-see game to see how the rain falls and how the rivers response to that rainfall," she said.

Jane Golding from the Bureau of Meteorology said there was a serious risk of flash flooding and the potential for destructive wind gusts of up to 120 kilometres per hour on the North West Slopes, including in Walgett and Tamworth today.

That same weather system will likely shift south from tomorrow, bringing severe thunderstorms to already impacted areas along the Murray River.

It is likely to also impact towns in the Central West, including Forbes.

"The rivers are flooded," SES NSW Commissioner Carlene York said.

"This next event will fill those rivers further and possibly flood again some of these areas."

The BOM also said inland NSW could be hit with giant hail on Thursday.

Major flooding is occurring or is forecast to occur at Shepparton, Echuca-Moama, Warren, Euabalong, Hay, and Tilpa.

Man's body recovered from floodwater

Emergency services have recovered the body of a 63-year-old man, believed to be the same person who went missing in floodwater more than a week ago.

The man was last seen on a rural property on Lachlan Valley Way at Hillston, on the Lachlan River, about 12pm on Tuesday, October, 11.

He told a friend he would return shortly, but police were alerted to his disappearance several hours later.

An extensive search was conducted by several emergency services, focusing on the man's property, but he was not located.

At 8:30am today, emergency services received reports that a body had been sighted on a rural property at Wallanthery, about 35 kilometres north-east of Hillston.

The body is yet to be formally identified but is believed to be that of the man.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Moama residents evacuated

A further 200 residents on the swollen Murray River in the town of Moama on the New South Wales-Victorian border are being ordered to evacuate today ahead of what could be the highest flood peak since 1993.

The Bureau of Meteorology is warning that flood levels at the Echuca Wharf could exceed 95 metres (measured from sea level).

Late yesterday the State Emergency Service asked people living on eight streets in East Moama to evacuate because exit routes were expected to become inaccessible by about 1pm today.

Volunteers worked through the night to create a sand bag levy around a number of buildings in the town.

NSW SES Chief Superintendent Ken Murphy said the emergency service was also working to move stock out of harm's way.

"One of the big issues we currently have is that we have heavy rain and storms forecast today through to Friday, and another low-pressure system for this weekend," he said.

"So our concern is the weather will cause renewed river rises and flooding."

There are 69 flood warnings in place across New South Wales, with eight at emergency level.

Ms York said more than 170 rescues had been performed since the flooding started in September.

Emergency services are again warning people not to drive through floodwater after a number of rescues involving people who thought their car could make it.

The SES is anticipating that strong winds could bring down trees and impact homes in the flood zones.

Water NSW said it had made space in its dams to receive more inflows as a result of the predicted rain this week.

The authority said the upcoming weather would lead to the third major inflow into inland dams in the last fortnight.

It said its teams were onsite and prepared, and that planners were working with the BOM to monitor rainfall and inflows.

RFS set for rapid response

The NSW Rural Fire Service has set up a base camp at Deniliquin to be able to respond quickly to flooding across the Murray River region.

About 320 emergency service workers and a dozen semi-trailers' worth of equipment are being sent from across the state to the town.

RFS chief superintendent Heath Simpson said the town, about 50 minutes north of Moama, was large enough to accommodate the influx of volunteers and emergency service personnel.

"The base camp seeks to balance the act between supporting local communities, partnering with local communities, whilst being able to maintain operational capability close to the area of operation," he said.

More than 125,000 sand bags have been distributed across the state by the SES.

There are also nine aircraft ready to deploy and 180 Australian Defence Force members helping with the preparation and recovery effort in high-risk areas.

Parts of the Sturt and Newell Highways between Wagga and Darlington Point remain closed after flooding cut off sections of the road on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.

A number of diversions are in place. 

Motorists are being urged not enter floodwater and monitor the situation.

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