Coffs Harbour weather: Bellingen flood warnings slammed

An SES flood evacuation order issued on Wednesday morning urged residents to go across town over flooded roads and bridges.

The picturesque town of Bellingen is accustomed to being cut in half when the Lavenders Bridge goes under in flood.

Northside residents might make the dash south across the bridge to the main street to stock up or get to the chemist.

If not, the Providore up near the showgrounds on the northside can be relied on for the basics – groceries; hamburgers and hot chips and of course beer or wine.

But with catchments saturated and an unpredictable low pressure system bringing more rain, locals are keeping a close eye on the weather and their mates.

The road leading down to Lavenders Bridge from the north side of Bellingen.

The showground on the northside of town is underwater and a number of evacuation warnings are in place so the evacuation warning that came through via text on Wednesday morning has left some residents flabbergasted.

The message ordered people on the northside to make their way to the evacuation centre at Bellingen High School – on the southern side of town.

The text sent around 9.30am read:
SES FLOOD EVACUATION ORDER

People in North Bellingen including residents in Wheatley, Hammond, Black and Dowle Streets and the Bellingen Showground must evacuate now.

An evacuation centre is open at Bellingen High School, 1125 Waterfall Way, Bellingen.

People took to social media, some mocking the message with others slamming it as clearly dangerous and wrong.

“Do you think the people sending the evacuation text for North Bello know that the high school is on the wrong side of town?” Tim Hill posted in a Bellingen Facebook group.

Others clarified the situation saying the evacuation centre for the northside of town was at Dawn Song Pre School in Elliott Close, off Sunset Ridge.

In Lismore residents were grappling with similar communication issues.

Lismore flood blunders: Sirens fail, rain gauges wrong

Lismore’s second major flood evacuation is underway after the Wilsons River topped the town’s flood levee, while a malfunction in the alarm system meant sirens did not sound.

Residents were issued with an evacuation order in the early hours of Wednesday, after being told earlier on Tuesday afternoon to return to their homes.

NSW SES Lismore City Unit posted the alert to Facebook on Wednesday, urging residents to “get out of the CBD immediately” as the overtopping of Lismore Levee is “imminent”.

It read that the sirens will not sound due to a malfunction.

At 9am, the SES issued a major flood alert that the Wilsons River at Lismore “will overtop the levee” and is expected to exceed 10.6 metres.

Rain gauges around Lismore have also been found to be off by almost half a metre when State Emergency Service personal performed manual checks on Wednesday morning.