Flood evacuation centre at Tuncurry Beach Bowling Club

At the height of Sunday's (March 21) deluge, Strike Team Victor, alongside Fire and Rescue NSW Station 295 Forster and NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) put their skills to the test rescuing five adults and four children, who had become isolated due to flooding in the Tuncurry Caravan Park.

Hampered by swift flowing flood water, the rescue took almost three hours.

At a similar period Forster Pacific Palms SES unit was called to rescue seven stranded residents on two separate occasions from rising floodwaters along the Wallamba River.

In both instances, floodwater was lapping the front verandahs of the Elliots Road, Nabiac residences.

"The residents couldn't get out, they were surrounded by water, and they were concerned they would run out of food," SES unit commander, Greg Dodd said.

"They were very happy to see us."

Also during the weekend the unit helped their colleagues in Wingham and Taree with the rescue of a family of two adults and two children from a property at Glenthorne.

Water had reached the first level of the two storey house, and they wanted to get the children to safety, Mr Dodd said.

He described conditions volunteers were working in as horrific.

"I have been with the SES for 12 years and this is the worst it has ever been."

Mr Dodd acknowledged and thanked all the volunteers, who he said had been giving 150 per cent in very trying conditions.

"While I have been away in Taree they have been sandbagging and attending to fallen trees and leaking roof incidents.

"We are doing a lot better here than in Taree and Wingham," he said earlier this week.

Volunteers have also been assisted with filling sandbags by members of the RFS and the public.

Tuncurry Beach Bowling Club is certainly the heart of our wonderful community and I am so proud to manage this organisation, general manager Terry Green said after closing down the flood evacuation centre.

The centre, which opened on Sunday afternoon provided a safe, dry haven for evacuees, and their pets, from flood affected caravan parks and residences.

"As our local flood waters recede, we stand down our wonderful volunteers and try to get back to some normality in club life."

Mr Green extended his thanks to the disaster welfare team, the Salvation Army, Coles Forster and club staff, many who worked long hours.

He said the flood had also been a time of many firsts and lovely memories, including a birthday celebration for nine-year-old Emily and accommodating a rooster.

Widespread flooding across the area placed pressure on the region's already vulnerable road network and a number of other services were impacted as a result of the conditions.

"Our staff have been working around the clock on road closures and assessments, but limited accessibility is making it difficult to understand the full extent of the damage," MidCoast Council general manager Adrian Panuccio said.

"As we are able to get into areas our focus will be on securing essential access and then assess damage so we can prioritise repair work."

Members of the community who wish to report issues should do so via council's website or by calling 7955 7777.

Waste services have also been impacted but all MidCoast Waste Facilities but open as normal.

"We know access to waste management centres will be a priority for our community once they are able to start to clean up and transport waste," Mr Panuccio said.

"As a result we have worked to ensure that all of our waste management facilities will be open as normal from today including the Gloucester facility, road access permitting," he said on Monday.

To assist residents impacted by the floods and widespread power outages, council is allowing food waste from flood damaged premises to be disposed of at waste management centres free of charge, due to the public health risk.

Kerbside collection services will be undertaken as normal, where road conditions and access permits.

Residents who have lost their bins in the flood event can call council on 7955 7777 to organise a replacement.

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Council services that will be operating as normal include:

While there will be changes to operations for: