Heavy rain pushes dams in the Tamworth region to overflow leading to further flood risk

Even without further rain, more water is set to flow down the Namoi River, with Keepit Dam already spilling over at 100.3 percent.

The huge Split Rock Dam, which spills into a waterway which leads to Lake Keepit, has risen to 97 per cent, up from 42 per cent just last year.

Chaffey Dam has been sitting full since August last year and has swollen to 103 per cent with rain in the catchment this month.

Local weather expert Dave Farrenden said Water NSW has to be careful about when water is released from dams as a third straight La Nina event sweeps in.

"It's up to them what they do but when you've got saturated catchments and rivers running like crazy, I think it's a bit late to be doing anything now," he said.

"Maybe they should have done something earlier on in the year."

A Water NSW spokesperson told the Leader the authority is following the usual practice of releasing water from storages to make room for rainfall.

The spokesperson said regular downpours have proven a problem as they have washed away opportunities to release water in bigger amounts.

"Water NSW lowers its dam storages between rain events to accommodate future predicted inflows, but persistent rainfall on saturated catchments has reduced the opportunity to do so in recent weeks," the spokesperson said.

As of Sunday, the amount of water being released from Keepit Dam had decreased by more than half, from about 17,000ML - 6800 Olympic swimming pools' worth - to 8000ML.

Copeton Dam near Inverell is sitting at 99.1 per cent and releases are set to decrease from 9700ML per day to 4000ML from Tuesday.

Despite the releases, Mr Farrenden said there's going to be further pressure on dams with the wet weather ahead.

"The rain won't stop until the end of the year at least," he said.

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