The State Emergency Service (SES) has issued an evacuation order for the NSW town of Hay and neighbouring village of Maude with the river's relentless surge forecast to breach the area's flood levee.
Major flooding is expected when the river peaks near 9.0 metres on Tuesday after reaching 8.9 metres on Sunday night - well above the height of the barrier.
The SES says residents should leave their homes by midday on Saturday when the river level is expected to exceed 8.1m.
"The river is rising at the moment and there will probably be impacts from today onwards," SES spokesman Dave Webber told AAP on Friday.
Residents should go and stay with family or friends outside of the evacuation areas, or alternatively attend an evacuation centre at the Deniliquin showground.
In the meantime, SES volunteers are continuing to operate on the ground preparing the area for inundation.
"We have a forward command in the Hay area that's doing a lot of planning, we've got lots of volunteers on the ground doing doorknocks, making sure people are informed, and assisting them with the evacuations if required," Mr Webber said.
Meanwhile, the SES is hoping to be able to sound the all clear for Darlington point, another town on the banks of the Murrumbidgee.
An evacuation order remains in place there but engineers are currently assessing the area's levee.
"We are hoping we can issue an all clear once the river gets below 7.2m, but until then the evacuation order is still current," Mr Webber said.
"There's rainfall down there at the moment so it depends on how that impacts on the river height."
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