A five-year-old boy was found dead on Saturday afternoon after a vehicle was swept away by floodwaters at Tullamore, northwest of Parkes, in central western NSW.

The boy’s parents were reportedly able to remove restraints from two younger children in the car, but weren’t able to free the older boy.

His death has prompted renewed calls for people to take the dangers of floodwaters seriously.

State Emergency Service spokesman Greg Nash a river or creek’s conditions could change between morning and afternoon.

“We have some very resilient communities and some communities that are very much aware of their flood risk,” he said.

“(However) we want people to drive to the conditions, and if you find a flooded or a damaged road as a result of flooding, to stop, turn around, (and) find another away – it’s not worth the risk to push on.”

In the 10 days to Saturday, the emergency service had fielded more than 800 requests for assistance in NSW, which included nearly 60 flood rescues.

In the 24 hours to about 5.30pm on Saturday, the emergency service received 120 requests for help and five flood rescues.

Parts of inland NSW remain on high alert for flooding despite a short reprieve from heavy rain.

Bureau of Meteorology forecasters were on Saturday shifting their focus to early next week, when southern and central inland parts of the state could get “considerable” falls on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It’s a bit early to know exactly how high the flood peaks will get as a result of that rain, but it’s definitely something that our hydrology team will be checking out pretty closely over the next day or two,” senior meteorologist Jake Phillips said.

“It definitely will exacerbate some of those flood peaks and could send some of them either into prolonged major flooding, or raise them from moderate into major, potentially.”

Earlier

The menacing low pressure system that brought torrential rain and flooded dozens of river systems has begun to move offshore, however the situation is still “evolving”, according to forecasters.

Heavy falls eased in inland NSW and the state’s north coast on Friday, leading forecasters to cancel a severe weather warning as the low pressure system began to move offshore.

“This is an evolving situation and the Bureau of Meteorology is monitoring rainfall and river heights closely,” the BOM said in a statement on Friday.

Flood warnings remain active for 28 river systems from the inland west, through to the Northern Rivers and the Mid North Coast on Saturday.

Severe thunderstorms are predicted to dump more buckets of rain over the east coast on Saturday, as cells stretch from the Queensland border to the Blue Mountains, raising a risk of flash flooding, downed trees, fallen powerlines and dangerous driving conditions.

Flood alerts

Flood warnings remain in place for the Tweed, Wilsons, Clarence, Bellinger, Nambucca, Macleay, Orara, Upper Macintyre, Macintyre, Gwydir, Peel, Namoi, Castlereagh, Macquarie, Bogan, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, Belubula, Culgoa, Birrie, Bokhara, Narran, Warrego, Paroo, Darling and Upper Murray, Murray and Edward Rivers.

In the town of Gunnedah, home to 9000 people, the Namoi River passed major flood levels, reaching the 7.9 metre mark late on Friday night and expected to peak at 8.3m on Saturday morning.

At Wee Waa, just 120km northwest, floodwaters peaked at the Namoi on Thursday and are falling slowly, with the BOM predicting they will remain above major flood levels until next week.

Wee Waa, a cotton town, is protected by an 8km levee, however, Narrabri Shire mayor Ron Campbell told AAP the rainfall has destroyed local roads.

“If we get substantial rain across the summer, we could have a record flood for sure – probably something not seen since the 1970s,” Mr Campbell said.

The wet weather had caused huge anxiety for the Tumbulgum community on the Tweed River, as locals saw the river burst its banks on to their paddocks on Friday.

‘Always very on edge’

Many locals remained hyper vigilant after major flooding hit the region earlier this year, Husk Distillers co-owner Harriet Messenger told AAP.

“Everybody in the region is always very on edge – particularly so close to another major event,” she said.

Farmers in north Queensland also faced an anxious few days after heavy falls in the state’s north, however a severe thunderstorm warning was cancelled on Friday.

Currumbin Valley organic farmer David Freeman suffered losses of his leafy green crops, and told AAP he feared the wild weather may have killed half his avocado trees.

“They’re very sick as a result of the last 12 months of heavy rain because of the saturated soil … and this deluge is just going to re-saturate the soil and will cause more soil fungus problems,” Mr Freeman said.

“(The rain) is weighing heavily on farmers because we just got trashed in the early part of this year.”

-AAP