While the worst of the torrential downpours might be over for now, SES officials said that more is to come in September and October. With catchments already soaked it won’t take much rain for more localised flooding to hit the region.

They have appealed for people to take note of “road closed” signs and to not risk their lives by entering flood waters.

This follows two emergency call outs on Thursday morning where cars had stalled while trying to cross flooded causeways.

SES Namoi region controller Andrew Galvin told The Leader  crews had responded to an emergency call on a Warral Rd, Tamworth causeway around 6am after a pantech truck had been driven through floodwaters and then stalled.

“The water was fairly deep, we believe it was up to the top of the tire of the truck,” Mr Galvin said.

“There was reasonable velocity in the water, but being a big solid vehicle it was lucky. It demonstrates that when you drive into the water, even if it is a large vehicle, you don’t know the damage at the bottom of the water – in some cases the air intakes on a vehicle are also quite low.

“Even though you think a larger vehicle can drive through, it isn’t always the case.” 

Around the same time SES crews were called to another incident on Wallamore Rd , Tamworth where a car had become stuck in flood water, however the driver was able to get out of the car safely. 

Both roads were blocked off to traffic on Thursday with diversions in place.

Mr Galvin said the SES also responded to calls for minor flooding assistance in the region but no significant damage was reported.

Residents from areas including Garthowen, near Attunga, woke up to find they were flooded in by a swollen Attunga Creek. 

Rivers were continuing to rise around  New England and the North West after heavy rainfalls since Tuesday, although some respite is expected as the weather front clears.

Mr Galvin said with a wet few months ahead predicted people needed to be aware how fast waterways could rise. 

“We have got a wet catchment and there is rainfall predicted for the next couple of months,” he said. “What people in the community need to understand is when a lot of these waterways get rain, it can come up fairly quickly and they need to be conscious of that.”

By late Thursday the Tamworth district had received almost 50mm of rain since Tuesday.