Central Coast rainfall: Region inches toward water restrictions
This week’s rainfall was better than a slap in the face with a wet fish, but it was not nearly enough to stop the slow march to water restrictions. Here’s the suburbs that recorded the highest totals.
The Central Coast had some of the highest rainfall totals in the State this week but not nearly enough to stop the region inching slowly toward water restrictions.
The light falls were confined mostly to the coast with little falling on the Somersby Plateau where the region’s farmers are still looking skyward for reasonable rain before the summer heat arrives.
Killcare Heights, Avoca and Kincumber chalked up the highest falls recording 18mm each in the 24 hours to 9am today.
Terrigal and Bateau Bay each had 16mm with Gosford and Norah Head on 13mm.
There’s cloud around and a minuscule chance to a millimetre or two on Friday — but the long term rainfall outlook for the State continues to be for significantly lower than average rain.
NSW Farmers Federation Central Coast spokesman Tim Kemp said the lack of rain was not as much of an issue during winter when evaporation rates were lower, but would quickly become a more serious problem if significant rainfall did not fall by September ahead of the hotter months.
“We’ve been very lucky really — we had some handy rain a while back and that has kept moisture levels up and helped a lot,” Mr Kemp said,
Mr Kemp said farmers who relied on dams and whose crops were grown in open fields (as opposed to hydroponics) were most exposed if the dry spell continued.
Dam storage levels continue to fall with the total now at 54.7 per cent — above the trigger point for water restrictions of 50 per cent
Total storage fell from 75 per cent in April 2017 to 57 per cent in April 2019. It’s fallen by another three per cent since then.
Woman fronts court over half a million bucks pot crop
Conservatively dressed and emerging from court arm-in-arm with her solicitor, this is the woman police allege was behind a hydro house where officers seized half a million dollars worth of pot.
Marble Bar syndicate member admits supplying kilos of cannabis
One of a dozen men charged as part of an investigation into the alleged drug supply and money laundering through a Central Coast restaurant has pleaded guilty to supplying kilos of cannabis.