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Mud wrestling could be the favoured sport this weekend in Sydney as the city cops the fringe of an east coast low already bringing flooding rains to north-eastern parts of NSW and southern Queensland.
Sydney is likely to receive 15-30mm of rain on Saturday, with more expected on Sunday before the skies start to clear in the afternoon, Anthony Duke, a meteorologist with Weatherzone, said.
"It should be more showery or patchy rain," Mr Duke said, adding there is only a "very low chance of thunderstorms".
Large and powerful surf conditions are forecast for the coast, especially on Saturday. Rugby, football or other sports that don't mind the mud should be fine, he said.
Sports fields are also sodden after Sydney recorded rain on 23 days during April, the most since 1923 and well above the long-run average for the month, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Big wet up north
Conditions are much more hazardous further north, as a trough develops into an east coast low and heads slowly southwards, lashing coastal areas with heavy rains and damaging winds.
Parts of southern Queensland had torrential rain on Friday, an indication of conditions that parts of north-eastern NSW can expect on Saturday.
Beerburrum on the Sunshine Coast recorded 72mm in an hour. "That's extreme rain," Mr Duke said. The site received 233mm of rain since 9am on Friday, the bureau data shows.
Among larger towns, the biggest falls on Friday in north-eastern NSW were 49mm at Lismore and Ballina, as of late afternoon.
Both those towns could be in for as much as 200mm of rain on Saturday.
"That should be the peak," Mr Duke said. "By Sunday, the low or trough will be weakening and moving off into the Tasman."
The NSW State Emergency Service expects to have thousands of volunteers ready to respond to calls for help. SES crews from South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT will also join others from the Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue NSW to assist over the weekend.
While the areas in the Hunter hardest hit by floods from the previous east coast low - which struck about 10 days ago - are likely to dodge the worst of the current system, any additional rains could revive flood concerns, an SES spokeswoman said.
Dungog, which had some of the worst flood damage in April's storms, can expect 15-35mm of rain on Saturday and 3-10mm on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The bureau has a flood watch out for 12 river valleys from Nelson Bay to the Queensland coast. Of those, five face possible major flooding.
Areas that have had the biggest soakings so far were Turners Flat near Kempsey with 147mm and Houghlahan's Creek near Lismore, which received 135mm of rain, for the 24 hours to 3pm on Friday, the bureau said.
Coffs Harbour had 105mm, Alstonville 129mm and Tumbulgum 113mm.
The rains come after the wettest April for NSW for 25 years, with the statewide average 47 per cent above the norm.
For Sydney, the rainfall in April was the most for that month since 1989, and the most for any month since June 2007 - which saw the last big east coast low to smash the region.
