Emergency services issued several new evacuation orders late on Monday and early Tuesday across the area with moderate to major flood warnings issued for local river systems. Residents in low-lying parts of the Northern Rivers town of Billinudgel as well as parts of Mullumbimby and Tumbulgum were warned early on Tuesday that they needed to leave.
Heavy rains are forecast for northern NSW this week with high water levels possible in the flood-wrecked regional centre Lismore.
The relentless rain is hitting a region already reeling from devastating floods that struck just weeks ago.
A low pressure system sitting off the NSW coast will bring showers in the coming days including to Sydney, the Bureau of Meteorology's Jonathan How said.
As the system moves south it will become windy across state's eastern coastline, becoming strongest on Friday with the potential to bring down trees and power lines, he said.
"Thankfully though this rain event won't be quite long-lasting as the previous rain event so we will see conditions really ease towards the latter part of the week," Mr How said.
But he warned although the rains will stop, flooding may continue for days if not weeks to come.
The La Nina weather pattern is drenching Australia's east coast for the second year in a row.
Dr Nina Ridder of UNSW's Climate Change Research Centre said the phenomenon will dissolve by autumn, but La Nina events are likely to bring more extreme rainfall to Australia.
"We're definitely seeing the change in global weather patterns because of climate change," she told AAP.
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