A flooded playground in Kempsey, NSW. Heavy rain has caused flooding across much of eastern Australia [EPA]

Eastern Australia is once again struggling to cope with widespread flooding after many weeks of heavy and steady rainfall.

This comes as a stark reminder of the awful conditions that brought flooding to Queensland this time last year due to the ongoing La Nina event which simply refuses to go away.

This year’s floods are not as severe as last year’s, but they are still causing widespread disruption.

Even inland, many roads across Queensland have been cut off by flood waters and yet more rain is expected. Areas to the southwest of the state have already been lashed by record rainfall.

A station near the opal-mining town of Eulo received more than 146mm of rain on Sunday alone. This was their highest ever daily rainfall total since records began 130 years ago.

Floods now threaten the town of Charleville and residents have been told to prepare for immediate evacuation. Some residents from the Charleville Hospital and nearby Waroona Nursing Home have already been evacuated by air to
Brisbane.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that both the Comet River and the Balonne River are expected to peak above major flood levels of around 10 metres over the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, flood conditions across northern New South Wales (NSW) have begun to ease, but more than 2000 people remain isolated as a result of recent heavy rain around the state border.

Thankfully, the weather is expected to improve over the next few days.

The federal government has pledged to provide natural disaster relief to flood-hit communities in northern NSW as
well as across Queensland.

Meanwhile, the state government is extending natural disaster declarations to six more regions of the state, taking the total number of declarations to 11.