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A ship stranded off the coast of Sydney has been safely returned to port, as officials admitted it was in danger of being smashed on the rocks.

Portland Bay limped back into Port Botany, which it left on Monday morning, before losing power off the coast as wild weather struck Sydney.

Crews worked day and night to handle the emergency in swells up to 11 metres.

LIVE UPDATES: Parts of NSW Hunter region underwater

At one point, a tow line attached to the ship snapped, and efforts to airlift some of the crew off were abandoned due to the wild weather.

It finally docked alongside at Port Botany in Sydney's south, just before 3pm on Wednesday, after three days without power.

READ MORE: How to get your NSW flood recovery payments

Incident controller John Finch said it had been a "really challenging" time in "atrocious weather conditions".

He said the main engine problem happened to coincide with the bad weather and admitted the vessel came to a "precarious rest" near the cliffs of the Royal National Park, just south of Sydney.

Finch said the crew only had one chance to successfully get the anchors down, before multiple tug boats could get there.

"All in all it's a great outcome," he said.

"No pollution, no injuries, no major damage.

"The ship could have ended up on the rocks. She was half a nautical mile, about a kilometre.

"That's far closer than you need to be comfortable."

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet earlier called those involved in the operation "heroic."

"It's been a great team effort," CEO Port Authority Captain Philip Holliday said.

"There were a couple of points along this where we were looking at a different situation."

Marine Pilot Lindsay Cavanagh praised the captain and the tugboat crews, who have had little sleep for three days.

"The effort he's gone to to keep his ships safe is really impressive," Cavanagh said.

Andy Perry, the operations manager for Engage Towage, said the 21 crew members were "happy" to get back to dry land after a "long ordeal".

"Morale is high but they're tired," he said.

Perry said all people involved in the ship's recovery had trained for such emergencies and today's operation had been carefully planned.

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He said some of the seamen involved were now able to go home to rest, while others had returned to work.

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Some engine power was used to bring the vessel in.

The ship will now be assessed and the engine will be repaired.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has started a transport safety investigation.

The incident will also be reviewed and investigated.

New South Wales residents have been warned to look out for symptoms of monkeypox after 11 cases of the virus were confirmed in the state.

Two of those cases are believed to have been acquired in Australia, with the remainder coming from overseas.

Health authorities are concerned the virus is being locally transmitted, which has sparked the warning for residents to watch for symptoms, particularly for men who have sex with men.

READ MORE: How to get your NSW flood recovery payments

"People need to be aware of the symptoms of monkeypox, which can include fever, headache, body aches and a rash or lesions on the genital area," NSW Health Executive Director of Health Protection Dr Jeremy McAnulty said.

"So far, in the cases, we have seen in NSW, monkeypox is not presenting the way some people expect, such as an extensive rash or lesions all over the body.

"It could just be a couple of what seem to be pimples in the genital area or buttocks, so people need to pay careful attention to any potential symptoms. Most of our cases to date have presented to sexual health clinics, rather than GPs."

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https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1544567860277936129

Monkeypox is endemic to part of Africa, however thousands of cases have been reported from non-endemic countries since May this year.

Many of the cases are in men who have sex with men.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said monkeypox symptoms are "very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe".

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It is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, the WHO said.

Monkeypox infection is determined by testing the blister fluid or scabs from a skin rash which often occurs within two weeks of exposure to the virus.

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Some Sydney suburbs are being urged to conserve water as the latest wild weather event impacts drinking water supply.

Despite one of Sydney's main water sources, the Warragamba Dam, spilling at record rates over the past few days, Sydney Water has asked some suburbs to conserve their water usage.

Sydney Water said the heavy rain and floods, which have inundated parts of the city, have swept "high volumes of leaves, dirt, and other debris into the raw water catchment".

READ MORE: How to get your NSW flood recovery payments

"This has posed significant challenges for our Orchard Hills water filtration plant," the supplier said.

"We are asking residents in this catchment area to reduce their water usage while our filtration systems are working harder than usual to filter and clean the raw water to make it safe."

More than 30 suburbs across Sydney's west have been issued with an alert to monitor their water usage.

Which suburbs are affected?

• Caddens
• Jamisontown
• Oxley Park
• Cambridge Gardens and Cambridge Park
• Jordan Springs
• Penrith and South Penrith
• Kingswood and Kingswood Park
• Quarry Hill
• Castlereagh
• Regentville
• Claremont Meadows
• Lemongrove
• Ropes Crossing
• Colyton
• Leonay
• Cranebrook
• Llandilo
• Dunheved
• Londonderry
• St Marys and North St Marys
• Emu Heights
• Mt Pleasant
• Werrington, Werrington County and Werrington Downs
• Emu Plains
• Erskine Park
• Glenmore Park
• Orchard Hills

What do you need to do?

To save water you should:

• Avoid hosing the driveway or other hard surfaces
• Take shorter showers
• Use the half flush on the toilet
• Avoid watering the garden
• Avoid washing your car
• Reduce your use of washing machines and dishwashers (only use a with a full load)

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Is the water still safe to drink?

Sydney Water said water is still safe to drink however the system's ability to produce drinking water is slower than normal.

In order to get it back up to speed, Sydney Water needs to clean filtration plants to free them of debris.

"All of our teams are working overtime due to very large levels of silt and debris entering our system which ultimately slows down our ability to clean our water supply and provide clean drinking water to our customers," Sydney Water general manager Bernie Sheridan said.

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Sheridan added the warning to conserve water now is to ensure when flood clean ups begin there is an "adequate supply of drinking water".

It comes as many of these suburbs have been impacted by floodwaters during the recent freak weather event.

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