Ready to respond: emergency services filling sandbags as flood warning issued

There was an inch of rain over the weekend on an already saturated catchment, but flood forecasts have been significantly reduced from what was anticipated.

Heading into the weekend with the Bureau of Meteorology expecting 20 to 40mm the State Emergency Service was preparing for the Lachlan River to reach the major flood height at Cottons Weir and Jemalong.

SES volunteers were working alongside the Rural Fire Service both in town and in rural communities along the river to fill sandbags in preparation for flooding.

There's water on the way but not as much as expected.

The Lachlan River is now expected to peak at a height of 9m at the Iron Bridge Tuesday and 7.6m at Jemalong Weir from Wednesday to Friday.

On Sunday afternoon the SES advised moderate flooding was occurring at Jemalong and was possible at Cottons Weir, but they've revised their predictions for Forbes itself to stay within the minor flood level.

The Lachlan River upstream at Nanami is expected to remain below the minor flood level of 7.40m.

Cottons Weir, the next gauge along, may reach the moderate flood level of 5.3m this morning.

Water NSW on Friday announced they had reduced releases from Wyangala Dam in anticipation of the rainfall creating significant flows in the tributaries between Wyangala and Forbes.

The dam had been drawn down to 94.5 per cent with airspace releases in the past week, after rising to 101 per cent with the last rain.

The good news is that the forecast for the week ahead looks set to give us some breathing space with sunny days and temperatures steadily increasing through next weekend.