IT is enough to send local residents running for cover - the words East Coast Low.
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After last week's devastating weather conditions which destroyed parts of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, weather predictors are suggesting a possible encore performance in coming days.
Early indications suggest the main impact of intense rainfall and strong winds will be focused on the coastal areas of northeast New South Wales including the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast.
Weatherzone meteorologist Anthony Duke suggested the area could receive anywhere between 150 and 300 millimetres of rain in the three days from Thursday.
"Early indications are for Port Macquarie to receive a fair bit of rainfall with the worst of those conditions expected between Thursday and Saturday afternoon," he said.
"Friday could see anywhere between 80 and 100 millimetres of rain falling in a 24-hour period going into Saturday, but the upper extreme levels of rain limits could see between 150 and 200 millimetres falling in the same period, but it's difficult to predict."
Mr Duke said it was "fairly common" to see two east coast lows occurring within 30 days of each other, but it was unusual for it to happen within a week.
Luckily for the areas appearing in the firing line the damage was not expected to be as widespread as what happened last week.
"This system is possibly less developed than the one which hit the Central Coast last week so it should be shorter lived," he said.
Mr Duke said the centre of the system and where it will form will be difficult to predict with any confidence.
"The strongest winds will be to the south of the centre of the system and at this stage it doesn't look too bad for Port Macquarie but it's difficult to predict where the centre will be," he said.
paul.jobber@fairfaxmedia.com.au