AS MANY as 1000 Coonamble residents were ordered to evacuate their homes last night as the Castlereagh River threatened to breach the levee that protects the town - but many residents were refusing to leave.
The State Emergency Services warned that 224 properties in the north and east of the town would be flooded if the levee is unable to withstand the force of the water.
The warning came as the State Government declared a state of emergency in the Coonamble and Dubbo shires.
Long-time residents of the town said they had never seen the water flow as high or fast as it did yesterday.
The river was expected to peak at about 5.5 metres some time between 3am and 6am today.
The Mayor of Coonamble, Tim Horan, said while many of the town's 4000 residents were looking forward to economic benefits from the rain, there was concern and confusion about the evacuation order. "There are a lot of people that have decided that they will not leave their homes," he said. "People have lived here their whole lives and think they know better than outsiders."
One resident, Ken Baker, said that he would not obey the evacuation order. "There are a lot of undesirable elements around and I just don't trust them," he said. "I'd rather be here where I can keep an eye on things."
Mr Baker, who has lived in his Coonamble house his whole life, said that if the area flooded his evacuation plan was "the roof".
Mr Baker's wife, Brenda, was planning to leave the house to stay with her daughter in another part of the town. While worried about her husband, she knew he was determined to stay. "Ken is a very good swimmer but the river is rushing really hard," she said. "Nobody knows what to do because they're that scared."
An SES spokeswoman in Coonamble said they were trying to minimise the damage caused by the floods.
The Minister for Community Services, Linda Burney, said community services staff and volunteers would help those taking refuge in a temporary evacuation centre that has been set up in Coonamble High School. About 130 of the affected residents were expected to visit the centre last night.
While Coonamble is the only town likely to experience flooding, the SES said yesterday that across the state about 400 farms and rural properties had been isolated. Most are inaccessible because heavy rains have made dirt roads unusable, while some have become surrounded by large inland seas.
An SES spokesman, Phil Campbell, said that some properties in the Brewarrina area may be isolated for two to three weeks.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts that rain in the affected areas will ease today, but that isolated showers and thunderstorms are expected across the state from tomorrow onwards.
Steve Batick, whose farm west of Brewarrina has experienced a year's worth of rain in eight days, spent yesterday pulling ewes out of the mud. He estimates he has lost a year's income and 1000 baby goats and 400 sheep to the flooding.
''The ewes were lambing and the lambs are hanging out the back of them dead in the water,'' he said.
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