Two new river gauges installed at Ballina and Wardell will give earlier warnings for localised flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology flood forecast and warning services are now operational for the Burns Point and Wardell River gauges which means flood warnings for those locations will be based on accurate readings of river levels.
The new services came out of calls for stronger local flood intelligence after significant gaps in real time flood information became obvious during the 2022 floods.
While river heights have long been available at Burns Point and Wardell, there were previously no official minor, moderate or major flood classifications linked to the gauges.
The new forecast and warning services can now provide dedicated flood predictions for these communities, allowing the Bureau to issue flood watches and quantitative flood warnings for these locations.
The NSW SES can then inform community actions through the issue of Advice, Watch and Act and Emergency Warnings based on expected local impacts.
NSW SES acting assistant commissioner Brigid Rice said the new service was already operational and was tested during recent severe weather, with a minor flood warning issued for Ballina using the new warning system.
The NSW SES will use Bureau forecasts from the Burns Point and Wardell gauges to issue Advice, Watch and Act, and Emergency Warnings when flooding is expected on the Richmond River. 
Stay up to date with the latest Bureau flood warnings for your area through the Bureau website or the BOM Weather app. More detailed community warnings with calls to action from the NSW are to be found in the Hazards Near Me App.
For more information about preparing for floods go here.
The Bureau of Meteorology also has information about flood warnings here.
The flood forecast services form part of the Flood Warning Improvement Project, delivered by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water under the $75 million Joint Flood Recovery and Resilience Program, funded by the Australian Government’s Emergency Response Fund.
This information was provided by NSW SES.