NSW weather: Flooding closes regional NSW roads
FLOOD waters are causing havoc across the state, with houses evacuated and the SES in overdrive. Near Condobolin, in western NSW, some of the scenes are the worst the locals have seen since the floods of 1990.
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HOMES have been evacuated and animals stranded as floodwater continues to ravage NSW — and it’s not over yet.
Areas around the Lachlan have been hit hard by recent rain, and an evacuation warning persists for homes in Condobolin, where farmers and families are banding together to survive the aftermath of possibly the biggest flooding in more than 25 years.
Cameron Price, who is a reporter from Channel 7, said he had talked to many of the locals and that many farmers had been “taken by surprise” and had had “little warning”.
“I just don’t think they realised how widespread it would be,” he said.
“The last big flood was in 2012, and in town it’s probably about the same; but 10 to 15 minutes out of town it’s much higher and it’s waist-deep and it’s much worse than those floods.
“The last really big one before that was in 1990, and people are saying this time around is fairly similar to that, damage-wise outside of the main town.”
Mr Price said that despite the disastrous scenes that face a lot of these families, the community was sticking together.
“The locals are being pretty stoic,” he said. “They’re struggling, but they’re standing strong.
“Some of them have lost all their crops, not just a couple of fields, but the whole lot.
“Those that have livestock are trying to get them to higher ground — but there’s not a lot of that around.
“And they’re going around in tinnies trying to round them all up.”
“You know how these people are, they’re more worried about their neighbours,” he said.
Condobolin locals sandbagging ahead of expected Lachlan River peak tomorrow.. Already at 2012 levels, worse to come. pic.twitter.com/szIlFZsaHe
— Cameron Price (@campricenews) September 21, 2016
Water at the edge of houses at Condobolin, NSW. @abcnews @ABCCentralWest pic.twitter.com/ze3KltnaKr
— Joanna Woodburn (@JoannaWoodburn) September 22, 2016
BLAND SHIRE EVACUATIONS
Further south, around 170 people have been evacuated from 100 properties as floodwaters inundate the small town of Ungarie in the Bland Shire.
A community meeting was held in Ungarie this morning with 200 people attending to advise residents of the impending evacuation.
Ungarie: RFS Captain Lindsay Hanley says likely to have to evacuate 100 people today from the village. Village of meeting 11 AM today. pic.twitter.com/B1KDy7myjk
— Benjamin Shuhyta (@shuhyta) September 21, 2016
The SES said a majority of people had relocated to family and friends outside of the evacuation area with the Bland Shire Community Services providing support to members of community with accommodation and transport as required.
The situation is ongoing with evacuation occurring over the past few hours.
The Newell Highway — the major link through central NSW — will be closed between West Wyalong and Forbes for some weeks due to floods.
The stretch of the highway closed will be 105km.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay said there would be an alterative route, which would take 250km as the stretch of highway would be closed for “some time”.
42 REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE IN COOTAMUNDRA
Further flooding is expected for parts of NSW, with water levels peaking into the weekend.
There was a flood rescue overnight where a person drove through floodwater at Cowra, while at Crookwell three dogs were saved after they were stranded on a property.
Since the flooding started three weeks ago, there have been 81 flood rescues and 1811 calls for assistance to the SES.
With more rain in its way, emergency services are warning residents in the state’s west that more flooding could occur with 13 rivers on flood warnings.
There was flash flooding in the town of Cootamundra in the state’s south west after a deluge caused the main creeks to rise inundating 12 properties.
“We have had 42 requests for assistance in the Cootamundra area, mostly for leaking rooves and sand bagging requests,” a NSW SES official said.
There was also flooding in Temora, Stockinbingal, Wallendbeen and Ariah Park and the Griffith City Council has closed numerous roads.
In Stockinbingal, 70mm fell in a 24 hour period, which isolated two properties.
An SES spokesman said they were monitoring Gundagai and Wagga Wagga as water continued to flow downstream.
“That’s an area to watch,’ a spokesman said.
Major flooding is also expected when waters peak at Jemalong on Friday, and Euabalong on Saturday and Cottons Weir on Sunday.
SYDNEY FORECAST
For Sydney, there’s likely to be plenty of showers over the rest of Thursday and into Friday, before clearing a bit in time for the weekend.
There’s only a very slight chance of showers on Saturday, although this will increase on Sunday and into Monday.
Showers for southeast #NSW today, due to a nearby low pressure system. #cyclonicvorticity
— BOM New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) September 22, 2016
Weather radars https://t.co/joGHpQeD2Z
SEVERE WEATHER UPDATE: Rain & #flooding in eastern Australia. Current at 1pm AEST 21/9. Info: https://t.co/1YXCWbOTJe #FloodSafe #floods pic.twitter.com/ZfzmgqjTsp
— BOM Australia (@BOM_au) September 21, 2016
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