Many families across the state were struggling financially due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.

This is why the NSW government is encouraging people to check their eligibility on the Revenue NSW website to see if you are owed any money, you could have hundreds or thousands of dollars that you didn't know about.

The forgotten money held by Revenue NSW includes share dividends, trust accounts, refunds, commissions, deceased estates and money from a range of other sources.

In fact in Port Macquarie, there are 2047 number of items to be claimed worth $534,107.

The unclaimed money register can be found here: revenue.nsw.gov.au/unclaimed-money/search

Storm season set to blow in

The NSW government and NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) are encouraging all communities to be ready for a return of heavy rainfall, dangerous winds and potential flooding events, as the State marks the start of the storm season.

The NSW SES is gearing up to respond to natural disasters, with their capabilities set to be bolstered by a $4.6 million investment in prototype rescue vehicles, including six new Unimogs.

The new vehicles can operate in flood waters up to 1.2 metres, a resource the SES have previously outsourced to the Australian Defence Force.

The NSW government has also welcomed the delivery of a deployable Mobile Incident Command Centre ahead of the storm season and encouraged the community to prepare for any natural disaster.

Communities need to know their local risk, and be ready for the very real possibility of a repeat of recent flooding events, or potentially worse.

Now is not the time for us to be complacent.

To put together your plan for storm and flood events, visit: seshomeemergencyplan.com.au/ and for further information about the latest weather warnings and forecasts, visit the Bureau of Meteorology's website www.bom.gov.au.

For emergency assistance in storms or floods, call 132 500. In life-threatening situations, call triple 0 immediately.