‘Rivers bleed out over the landscape’: Behind the lens documenting NSW’s floods

Three years ago, environmental and weather factors screamed that NSW was entering a fire season on a scale unseen. Now, those same factors are stacking up in the reverse. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe storm and river flood warnings.

I’ve been watching our rivers bleed out over the landscape, some with multiple major flood pulses along their lengths. The unpredictability of the storm system threatens areas with potential flash floods.

River inundation is a slow destroyer of crops and inland towns, but flash floods are the killers. They are very difficult to spot until they actually start to happen. I’ve been attempting to follow these systems and find the storms at their most visually impressive.

Areas that once looked like desert now look like oceans. The incredible fury of the water releases exploding out at Wyangala Dam sound like a steam train or a tsunami. It truly is an inland tsunami.

The entire state has experienced major floods and Herald photographers, such as my colleagues Rhett Wyman and Brook Mitchell, are committed to telling the stories of people suffering in these disasters.

Floods come with their own set of potential dangers that affect lives – foot infections, sunburn, dehydration, gastro and infected insect bites along with holes and submerged debris.

These images are from the past few weeks and give a glimpse of the birth and growth of a slowly growing flood disaster that I fear has not peaked in its ferocity or scale.

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The turbulent underside of a shelf cloud near Griffith earlier this month.Credit: Nick Moir

Flash flooding in Eugowra on Monday destroyed the town. Some houses were washed off their foundations.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Water pours out of the Wyangala Dam in NSW’s Central West.Credit: Nick Moir

Friends and family of Dick Sharkey help protect his Forbes home from flooding.Credit: Nick Moir

A destroyed home in Eugowra on Tuesday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Friends and family of Dick Sharkey help protect his Forbes home from flooding. Credit: Nick Moir

The cleanup begins in Eugowra after a flash flooding destroyed the town on Monday. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Bailee Harrison, nurse unit manager at Forbes District Hospital, is transported by boat across flooded streets in Forbes at the end of her shift with a crew from Maritime NSW.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The cleanup begins at St Joseph’s Primary School in Eugowra after flash flooding destroyed the town on Monday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Broady Logan surveys the damage around his Gunnedah home. Broady and his young family have no plans to move despite this being the “8th time the house has flooded since November 2021”. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Floodwater surrounds the township of Forbes in early November. Credit: Nick Moir

Rural Fire Service members aid the clean-up in Eugowra on Wednesday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Emergency crews along flooded streets in Forbes, NSW, on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

During sunrise a definitive increase in flood height in Forbes is seen in early November. Credit: Nick Moir

Major flooding at the home of Broady Logan as the Namoi River impacts northern Gunnedah in October.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Locals take posessions from their flooded home onto dry land with their 3 cats utilising the train embankment in Forbes Credit: Nick Moir

Peter and Robin Walker abandon their house in Fenfree St as flooding rapidly enters Forbes.Credit: Nick Moir

Homes and properties destroyed following flash flooding in Eugowra.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Broady Logan surveys the flood damage around his Gunnedah home.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Water is hurled from a Forbes home as locals battle to fight flooding. Credit: Nick Moir

Locals look to recover following flash flooding in Eugowra on Monday. Credit: Rhett Wyman

A family embraces in Eugowra on Tuesday.Credit: Rhett Whyman

The losing battle. An exhausted volunteer takes a break from bailing as the waters continue to rise. Credit: Nick Moir

Justin Walker grabs some extra sandbags as flooding enters the Forbes township. Credit: Nick Moir

An ambulance is seen amid flood debris in Eugowra.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Controlled traffic crawls through widespread Lachlan River floodwaters south-west of Forbes Credit: Nick Moir

Forbes local Andrew Quirk, with Matt Robb and his child Tom Robb, float through significant floodwater earlier this month.Credit: Nick Moir

A man in Bathurst crosses floodwaters with children despite being warned by police not to.Credit: Nick Moir

A vehicle is seen wrapped around a tree on a riverbank near Cowra.Credit: Nick Moir

Locals pitch in to clean the muddy Molong Swimming Pool on Tuesday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Flood damage in Cowra.Credit: Nick Moir

Amanda Waller and Paul Trudegett go through the sodden and muddy remains of their home in Canowindra.Credit: Nick Moir

Road damage at Canowindra after flash flooding.Credit: Nick Moir

The clean-up begins in flood-stricken Cowra on Tuesday.Credit: Nick Moir

The amount of water being released from the Wyangala Dam, as photographed on Tuesday, is set to continue for a number of days.Credit: Nick Moir

A multi-layered shelf cloud develops as a severe storm brings torrential rain to Griffith in late October. Credit: Nick Moir