Bureau of Meteorology issues flood watch for Queanbeyan and Molonglo rivers

As a result SES volunteers will have sandbags available for collection from 3pm to 6pm on Tuesday at 34 Erin Street, Queanbeyan.

Queanbeyan SES deputy unit commander of operations Brent Hunter said that with rivers already swollen, heavy ground saturation and Googong Dam at 100 per cent capacity, minor flooding was forecast for the region.

The commander said SES crews in Queanbeyan were "well and truly ready to go" with teams on standby to conduct flood rescues and respond to storm damage.

Houses were not expected to be inundated but several roads and bridges in Queanbeyan will close.

"The biggest thing people can do is just prepare their home. General maintenance really can save you a lot of heartache. Cleaning the gutters, tying down loose items and ensuring your house is as prepared as it can be for what is potentially going to be some pretty decent rainfall over the next 24 to 48 hours," he said.

Roads and crossings that could be impacted across the Queanbeyan-Palerang region include the low-level crossing on Morisset Street, the Bombay bridge near Braidwood, the low-level causeway on McCusker Drive at Bungendore, Briars Sharrow crossing and other crossings on surrounding roads.

A council spokesperson reminded people "never to drive through flood waters, to pay close attention to depth indicators on low level crossings and obey road closure signs".

A slow moving coastal trough that lies off the northern NSW coast has already inundated parts of Queensland and northern NSW with record-breaking rainfall causing the most severe floods in living memory.

A moderate to major flood watch has been issued for the Queanbeyan and Molonglo Rivers.

According to the bureau, later on Tuesday a low pressure system will form within this trough before moving towards central parts of the NSW Coast and deepening into an east coast low. Heavy to torrential rain is likely to the south of the low affecting Sydney, Illawarra and the South Coast from later on Tuesday.

Duty forecaster Neil Bennett said the low pressure system would also "continue to produce some significant weather through Wednesday and into Thursday".

"Being such a small system, these east coast lows are very, very difficult to pinpoint exactly where the worst hazards are going to be. But there's certainly the potential for some very heavy rainfall, strong winds and also damaging surf along the coast as well," he said.

"We could see some moderate to major flooding depending on the amount of rainfall."

Meanwhile, catchments remain wet, with many NSW dams near capacity.

A severe weather warning for heavy to locally intense rainfall has been issued for Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Illawarra and South Coast and parts of adjacent districts.

The weather system is expected to cause riverine flooding for the parts of the Mid North Coast and extend further south to the Central Coast, Sydney, Illawarra and South Coast catchments from later on Tuesday.

A flood watch means that people living or working along rivers and streams must monitor the latest weather forecasts and warnings and be ready to move to higher ground should flooding develop.

Flood warnings will be issued if a minor flood level is expected to be exceeded at key sites along the main rivers for which the bureau provides a flood warning service.

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FloodSafe advice is available at www.ses.nsw.gov.au

For emergency assistance call the SES on telephone number 132 500

For life threatening emergencies, call triple zero immediately.

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