Central West: Major flooding expected to continue in the coming weeks as Wellington and Warren hit hard

After heavy rain sparked almost 30 flood rescue calls on the weekend, Central West residents are being urged to brace for more flood events with a third La Niña summer on the way.

After flooding sparked almost 30 rescue calls on the weekend, Central West residents are being urged to brace for more flood events with a third La Niña summer on the way.

SES flood rescue operator Adam Jones said he’d been disappointed that many motorists continued to ignore safety warnings during the weekend’s flooding, with volunteers called to attend 28 rescues across the region - mostly from those who’d tried to drive through floodwaters.

It was a wild weekend - kicking off on Friday when Dubbo received more than 11 millimetres of rain and Wellington was pelted with 22 millimetres.

With more rain predicted in the coming days, and months, Mr Jones urged motorists to check weather reports and local road closures - and to heed the advice to not try to drive across flooded roads.

“It was really disappointing … what we’re asking the community is to make sensible, smart decisions with the weather [this week] which is predicted to match the conditions [from the weekend],” Mr Jones said.

Incredible footage taken by Wellington local Matt Mara of the flooding over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/xrTjBQnDx3

— Aymon Bertah (@AymonBertah) September 19, 2022

“There’s several reasons why we close the roads, it’s important that we keep that infrastructure up, so that it can be used when it is needed.”

For those living in low lying areas, Mr Jones’ advice was to “start preparing now” with “anywhere between 20 to 40 millimetres”expected this week in parts of the central west and the New England region.

“With the ground saturated as it is, the farms, dams and catchments [are] full, that’s going to create a system where flash flooding can occur,” he said.

“So there could be flooding in areas that we don’t normally expect, so we’re putting the whole area on alert to make some sensible, smart and safe decisions.”

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Helen Kirkup confirmed there’d be more downpours this week in the area, saying heavy rainfall was expected “predominantly on Wednesday”.

“We’re likely to see another trough coming through and we’re broadly looking at [another] 30 millimetres, right across the region,” Ms Kirkup said.

“In terms of the flood situation, we’ve obviously got the first flood travelling through the Macquarie now, so the main flood peaks will be close to Warren.”

With “major flooding expected” in Warren on Monday, Ms Kirkup said it would not be “out of the question” to see a similar outcome on Wednesday in the regions impacted over the weekend.

Pretty significant flooding in Wellington with football fields completely under water. pic.twitter.com/ddEveuD7Zw

— Aymon Bertah (@AymonBertah) September 16, 2022

“That will see those rivers rise again, and that will cause another flood peak moving downstream, but it’s hard at the moment to see where the worst of that rainfall will [be],” she said.

Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson said with high rainfall predicted in the region over the coming months, there would need to be a “continual repair” process for council, residents and businesses.

“I think we’re going to see this continual yo-yoing from now until December,” Mr Dickerson said.

“The weather predictions at the moment make it very difficult for us because we want things in a state of repair, so that it is good enough for people to get by, but if we spend too much money on that, then we’re pretty sure it’s going to be damaged again.”

The past weekend’s wild weather saw Dubbo Regional Council, in partnership with the SES, shut down roads, bridges and highways as a result of the inundation of water in the region, causing severe delays.

Workers from Dubbo Regional Council cleaning up the Emile Serisier Bridge over the weekend. Picture: Dubbo Regional Council

For people travelling from Orange to Dubbo, there were significant delays with the Mitchell Highway being cut off, and when reaching Wellington, the bridge over the Bell River was shut due to rising flood levels, impacting nearby football fields at Pioneer Park which were completely covered.

“I’m surprised the old pedestrian bridge (in Wellington) is still up, because it was hit with [large amounts of] water and various debris that was coming down the river,” Mr Dickerson said.

“But the roads themselves, I actually went for a drive to Wellington today and there is significant damage there. Even at the heart of the Bell River, that joins with the Macquarie River, there is significant erosion there too.

“So it’s just those high flows of water and the damage that [it] can do, you just have to look at the Grand Canyon in America to see what it can do, if it’s given enough time.”

After the Macquarie River peaked at 7.3 metres on Saturday, workers from Dubbo Regional Council were hard at work cleaning up debris from the Emile Serisier Bridge, reducing drivers to one lane each way.

For more information on how to be safe, check out the SES website: https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au and Live Traffic NSW https://www.livetraffic.com/