Two farming regions in Australia’s eastern state of New South Wales have been declared natural disaster zones after days of torrential rains caused major flooding and cut off hundreds of residents.

More than 1,200 residents in the outback town of Coonamble, several hundred kilometres northwest of Sydney, were ordered to evacuate their homes for safer parts of town as the rising Castlereagh River threatened to breach local levees.

People rode away in motorboats and ranchers herded horses and cattle through the deep water to higher ground.

Forecasters had initially feared the river would swell to a 40-year record of 5.5 metres, putting hundreds of homes at risk.

However, the threat has since eased with the river appearing to have reached its peak at 5.14 metres, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Bourke, a district with a population of about 4,400, was deluged by some of its heaviest rain in a decade, leaving dozens of properties cut off from roads and forcing some farmers to fly livestock to higher ground.

New South Wales state Premier Kristina Keneally declared the Bourke and Coonamble areas natural disaster zones during a tour of the area, entitling them to state emergency funds including loans and subsidies.

“That will provide much-needed longer-term help to residents, primary producers, business owners and councils,” Ms Keneally said. “It will help them to rebuild.”

However, heavy rains throughout many drought-stricken areas over the past fortnight have delivered farmers a much-needed reprieve.

Rains that have fallen throughout inland New South Wales, flooding rivers and plains, could boost the rural economy by billions of dollars, with farmers hopeful of two seasons of good crops and plentiful feed for livestock.

Meanwhile, only days ago farmland in Western Australia’s wheatbelt was destroyed by raging bush fires that blackened an estimated 33,000 acres of land.

The rural community of Toodyay, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Perth, was declared a natural disaster zone after the blaze roared through the town.

Farmers lost livestock and at least 37 homes were destroyed.

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