Sydney, Jan 3 (AP) About 1,000 people in a small Australian town evacuated their homes today as floodwaters besieged the area after 10 days of heavy rain.

Emergency officials advised 1,200 residents of Coonamble, 415 kilometres northwest of Sydney, to relocate to less-threatened parts away from the rising Castlereagh River.

State Emergency Services urged people to evacuate by nightfall. The river was expected to peak at 18 feet early Monday -- its highest level since February 1971 and just below a 19-foot high levee.

"We want to make sure that the people there do not have any risk to their own safety, so we need to err on the side of caution," said State Emergency Services spokesman Phil Campbell.

He said there was concern about the levee withstanding such a high flood level, but Mayor Tim Horan said engineers did not anticipate major problems.

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Hundreds flee Australia flooding

Two areas of the state have been declared natural disaster areas after days of heavy rains swelled rivers and left farms cut off.

As water levels threatened to reach 5.5m (18ft), up to 1,200 people were moved from the town of Coonamble.

It comes after summer wildfires wreaked havoc on the other side of the country.

Sunday's evacuation order for Coonamble was issued because of concern about the state of levees holding back the nearby Castlereagh river.

"We are looking at a flood peak in the early hours of Monday morning at around 5.5m (18ft)," Phil Campbell, from the State Emergency Service, told state radio.

"That particular flood height does give us some concern regarding the levee that does protect 224 properties within Coonamble and, as such, an evacuation order has been issued."

Coonamble resident Ken Baker told AP television the river was the highest he had seen it in 60 years of living in the town.

Despite the damage, a number of farmers welcomed the rains, which follow a long drought.

Last week, wildfires threatened the city of Perth in Western Australia after razing dozens of homes and consuming thousands of acres of land.

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