ANOTHER DELUGE: Grafton receives 90mm in 3 hours
Grafton continued to experience prolonged heavy rains on Wednesday despite conditions generally easing across the region.
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GRAFTON continued to experience prolonged heavy rains on Wednesday despite conditions generally easing across the region.
While rural residents described humid conditions “like a sauna” as the sun shone on swollen rivers in the west of the catchment, Grafton received 93.2mm in 3.5 hours between 8.30am and 12pm.
The Clarence River exceeded the 2.1m minor flood level at Grafton early Wednesday afternoon and is expected to peak around 2.5m about 6am on Thursday.
A moderate flood warning remained in place for the Orara River and minor flood warning for the Bellinger River.
However, the latest Flood Watch issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday stated that heavy rainfall had eased and renewed flooding was “not expected for Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers”.
While more precipitation is forecast every day for the next week througout the Clarence Valley catchment, the predicted rainfall totals are much lower.
Farmer and artist Graham Mackie, who lives at the junction of the Clarence and Mann rivers at Coombadjha, has watched the water steadily rising. He shared photos of the river system in minor flood with the sun shining on Wednesday morning in humid conditions he described “like a sauna”.
“The river will come up more because they had (more rain) at Dorrigo, so that takes three days to get here and about a week to Grafton,” Mr Mackie said.
“All the rivers are all chocolate, which is unusual. Usually the Mann is clear and the Clarence is chocolate. I think it’s run off from the drought.
“The week before last we had 40 degree heat every and no rain, there wasn’t any grass and everyone had started hand feeding.
“This time last year we were fighting fires. It’s a godsend, and with a bit of sun we’ll have lots of grass for winter.”
While the bureau predicts for conditions to ease over the coming days, there are currently two cyclones in the Pacific Ocean, and the closer of the two, Cyclone Yasa, has Mr Mackie concerned.
“It could be interesting if that comes this way and we get an east coast low,” he said.
“At the moment it is just a minor flood. If we get some more rain up here it will make things interesting,” he said.
Cyclone Yasa is 2500km off the Queensland Coast and in just 24 hours rapidly strengthened from a Category 1 to Category 5 system with winds up to 240km/h and is expected to hit Fiji on Thursday night.
The Bureau of Meteorology does not predict Cyclone Yasa to impact on the weather of eastern Australia.
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FIRST FLOODS: Grafton’s wettest December on record
Flood warnings issued for Clarence Valley
FLOOD WATCH: All eyes on the upper Clarence catchment
PHOTOS: From flames to floods, see the transformation
WATCH: Orara Valley rivers swell as roads begin to disappear
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