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Sydney is in the midst of its wettest year on record as widespread drenching rain puts many parts of western NSW on flood alert.

The previous annual record of 2194mm of rain, which had stood since 1950, was broken at 12.30pm on Thursday after 27.2mm of rain fell at Sydney's Observatory Hill Bureau of Meteorology station since 9am.

The bulk of the rain fell in about 90 minutes, beginning at 11am.

With nearly three months remaining in 2022 and the declaration of a third consecutive La Nina by the BOM in September, more rain is expected to fall before the end of the year, further inflating the record.

Sydney had its wettest July on record this year after only two weeks, passing the 1950 record of 336.1mm on the way to a total of 404mm.

March broke a 1942 record of 521.4mm when 554mm fell.

The ongoing deluge will see rivers on and west of the Great Dividing Range hit by moderate to major flooding, affecting towns including Tamworth, Dubbo and Bathurst.

There is a severe weather warning for heavy rain and thunderstorms across inland NSW, with no reprieve in sight this week.

Much of the state will see showers and thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon, with the southwest set for severe storms, heavy rainfall, possible hail and damaging winds.

The SES' shift to the Australian Warning System last month is seeing its first test, with Advice and Watch and Act warnings issued around the state.

More than 40 warnings are current, with particular concerns about flooding in the communities of Forbes, Warren, Dubbo, Nyngan and Bathurst, SES assistant commander Sean Kearns says.

"We are also watching this weather system as it may move across metropolitan areas on the east coast," he told Nine's Today program.

Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke said flood threats across the state had more than 500 SES volunteers in the field.

"Our landscapes are entirely saturated, our dams are basically full and the river systems, those channels, are also full," she said.

Farmers are concerned the latest deluge will destroy another crop and graziers have been warned to to shelter their stock from the wind and rain.

"There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions," the BOM warned.

Many NSW towns are dealing with renewed flooding, including the town of Warren, where major flooding is occurring again on the Macquarie River.

"It hasn't been hammering with rain, but we have had such a lot of rain consistently, basically since Christmas, that it just doesn't have a chance to dry out," Macquarie Caravan Park owner Carolyn Monkley told AAP.

"Rainfall here is totally different to rainfall on the coast. A couple of inches out here makes it very very ... soggy."

Other towns of concern include Condobolin, Nyngan, Cobar, Bourke, Wanaaring and Brewarrina.

Flood warnings are current across inland catchments including the Namoi, Macquarie, Bogan, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, Murray, Edward, Culgoa, Birrie, Bokhara, Warrego, Paroo, Barwon, Darling, Macintyre and Snowy rivers.

Minor flooding is predicted on Thursday in western Sydney's Hawkesbury-Nepean region.

Coastal catchments including the Hunter, Hawkesbury and Colo rivers, and Wollombi Brook, are being monitored with rises expected.

© AAP 2022

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A SpaceX rocket has soared into orbit from Florida carrying the next long-term International Space Station crew, with a Russian cosmonaut, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut flying together in a demonstration of US-Russian teamwork in space despite Ukraine war tensions.

A high-ranking official of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said shortly after the launch on Wednesday that the flight marked "a new phase of our cooperation" with the US space agency NASA.

The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Endurance, lifted off into clear skies at midday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

The two-stage, Falcon 9 ascended from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life in billowing clouds of vapor and a reddish-orange fireball.

The mission is notable for the inclusion of Anna Kikina, 38, the lone female cosmonaut on active duty with Roscosmos, making it the first spaceflight with a Russian launched from US soil in two decades.

As the spacecraft entered Earth orbit, Kikina radioed her thanks to NASA, Roscosmos and their International Space Station (ISS) partners for "giving us this great opportunity."

"We're so glad to do it together," Kikina said.

About nine minutes after Wednesday's launch, the rocket's upper stage delivered the Crew Dragon into a preliminary orbit as it streaked through space at nearly 27,000 km/h. The reusable lower-stage booster flew itself back to Earth and landed safely on a drone recovery vessel at sea.

The four crew members and their autonomously flying capsule were due to reach the ISS in about 29 hours, to begin a 150-day science mission aboard the orbital laboratory some 420 km above Earth.

The mission, designated Crew-5, marks the fifth full-fledged ISS crew NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX vehicle since the private rocket venture founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk began sending US astronauts aloft in May 2020.

© RAW 2022

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Actor Alec Baldwin and the producers for the Rust movie have reached a settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who Baldwin shot dead during filming last year, the parties say.

As part of the settlement, production on the low-budget film will resume in January with the late cinematographer's husband, Matthew Hutchins, serving as executive producer.

Joel Souza, who was wounded in the shooting, will continue as director and the same actors, including Baldwin, will play principal roles.

"I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame," said Hutchins, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer.

"All of us believe Halyna's death was a terrible accident."

Baldwin and others could still face criminal charges over the death of the 42-year-old cinematographer in October 2021 at a ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, a local prosecutor said after the settlement was announced.

During production of the movie, Halyna Hutchins was shot dead by Baldwin when a revolver he was using during a rehearsal fired a live round.

The 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live actor has denied responsibility for Hutchins' death and said live rounds should never have been allowed on the set.

"We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation," his lawyer Luke Nikas said in a statement.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said the settlement would have no impact on her decision whether to file criminal charges in the case.

Investigators have focused on determining who handled the pistol Baldwin fired.

"While civil suits are settled privately and often involve financial awards, criminal cases deal only in facts," her office said in a statement.

"If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought. No one is above the law."

The Hutchins family's lawsuit, filed in February, said Baldwin bore significant liability for the killing as he should have checked the gun did not contain live rounds, should not have pointed it at a person and should not have pulled the trigger.

Baldwin has said he was told the gun was "cold," an industry term meaning it was safe to use, and he did not pull the trigger.

An FBI forensic test of the single-action revolver found it "functioned normally" and would not fire without the trigger being pulled.

In August, New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator ruled the shooting an accident as the gun did not appear to have been deliberately loaded with a live round.

The state's worker safety agency fined the film's production company the maximum amount possible for what it described as "wilful" safety lapses leading to Hutchins' death.

© RAW 2022

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Actor Alec Baldwin and the producers of the Western movie Rust have reached a settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who Baldwin shot dead during filming last year.

As part of the settlement on Wednesday, production on the low-budget film will resume in January with the late cinematographer's husband, Matthew Hutchins, serving as executive producer.

Joel Souza, who was wounded in the shooting, will continue as director and the same actors, including Baldwin, will play principal roles.

"I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame," said Hutchins, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer.

"All of us believe Halyna's death was a terrible accident."

Baldwin and others could still face criminal charges over the death of the 42-year-old cinematographer in October last year at a ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, a local prosecutor said after the settlement was announced.

During production of the movie, Halyna Hutchins was shot dead by Baldwin when a revolver he was using during a rehearsal fired a live round.

The 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live actor denied responsibility for Hutchins' death and said live rounds should never have been allowed on the set.

"We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation," Baldwin's lawyer Luke Nikas said in a statement.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said the settlement would have no impact on her decision whether to file criminal charges in the case. Investigators have focused on determining who handled the pistol Baldwin fired.

"While civil suits are settled privately and often involve financial awards, criminal cases deal only in facts," her office said in a statement.

"If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought. No one is above the law."

The Hutchins family's lawsuit, filed in February, said Baldwin bore significant liability for the killing as he should have checked the gun did not contain live rounds, should not have pointed it at a person and should not have pulled the trigger.

Baldwin has said he was told the gun was "cold," an industry term meaning it was safe to use, and he did not pull the trigger.

An FBI forensic test of the single-action revolver found it "functioned normally" and would not fire without the trigger being pulled.

In August, New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator ruled the shooting an accident as the gun did not appear to have been deliberately loaded with a live round.

The state's worker safety agency fined the film's production company the maximum amount possible, $US137,000 ($A212,620), for what it described as "willful" safety lapses leading to Hutchins' death.

© RAW 2022