It has been a wet end to the year on the NSW Coffs Coast, with floodwater inundating car parks and apartment buildings, and a New Year’s Eve event being cancelled.

Several slow-moving thunderstorms hung around the coastal fringe this afternoon, mostly around Coffs Harbour, prompting weather warnings and flood advice.

The State Emergency Service is asking people to avoid Boronia Street at Sawtell due to dangerous flash flooding.

A severe weather warning for the region and the Northern Rivers was cancelled due to rainfall easing, but another severe weather warning has been issued which includes the Northern Tablelands.

The Bureau of Meteorology said three to six-hourly rainfall totals between 80mm and 160mm were possible, with isolated 24-hourly totals exceeding 250mm also possible.

Rainfall totals on the Coffs Coast this afternoon were in excess of 70mm in an hour.

Slow-moving system a concern

Coffs Harbour SES unit commander Ian Horncastle said the region was experiencing a “heavy water cell”.

“It’s been sitting here for nearly two hours, not moving very well at all, which of course is impacting certain areas of Toormina, Sawtell dramatically with high water flow and flash flooding,” he said.

“Our concerns are Boronia Street in Sawtell with a number of high rise apartment buildings in that street. Water is now entering the apartment.”

There have been no evacuations or flood rescues at this stage.

“This is exactly what we experience in Coffs Coast unfortunately, when you get those cells from the coast coming in and hovering,” Mr Horncastle said.

“They have been very slow over the last couple of hours … but that’s our concern at the moment, dumping a lot of water along the Mid North Coast from Coffs Harbour through to Yamba.”

Mr Horncastle said the council and emergency services staff were doing their best to close roads that had water over them.

Minor flood warnings have been issued for the Wilsons River, the Richmond River and the Orara River in the Northern Rivers region.

Lessons learnt from past flooding

In Lismore, 1,200 campers have gathered for the Tropical Fruits New Year’s Eve event.

Event coordinator Guy Grey said lessons had been learnt from the floods that devastated the city almost two years ago.

“It’s really informed how we have approached the festival this year,” Mr Grey said.

“Tropical Fruits definitely has to consider multiple extreme weather conditions, being based in Lismore.

“We are going to prepare the campsite as best we can, based on our knowledge of previous years.”

Mr Grey said low-lying areas of the festival site had been closed off to camping, and organisers were getting campers to stow any items that could catch the wind.

Mr Grey it would take a lot could dampen the party atmosphere.

“This is our first full-scale festival since 2019, so we are really excited,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Coffs Jetty Carnival and fireworks have been cancelled because of the weather.

The Bureau of Meteorology has advised that minor flooding is possible along the Richmond River overnight and possibly into Monday night.

A trough is expected to linger near the northern coast until Tuesday or Wednesday, with severe thunderstorms and locally heavy rainfall possible.

The rainfall may cause minor flooding across parts of the Northern Rivers, the bureau said.