Molong’s pool once glistened in a drought. Now it’s muddy and missing swimming flippers

Three years ago Molong was running out of water and the NSW Central West town struck a deal to take some from nearby Orange. Aerial photos at the time show its local pool, filled with bore water, glistening with its blue tiles – an out-of-place oasis in the middle of a brown, parched landscape.

Just three years later, flash flooding swamped Molong and large lakes of water surround the town. On Tuesday morning, its pool was caked with mud, sticks and floating straw. Fifty volunteers were cleaning up after the water receded.

Extreme weather seems hellbent on toying with how much the town of around 2000 can take.

Locals clean the Molong swimming pool on Tuesday.Credit: Rhett Wyman

On Sunday and Monday, heavy rainfall of more than 100 millimetres caused nearby Molong Creek to break its banks at 4.35 metres, sending more than one metre of water through nearby houses and businesses. The town has been on high alert three times this year for floods – the last one just 10 days ago.

“The drought feels like a distant memory,” said Felicity Armstrong, who was among the pool-cleaning volunteers. “We had dust, mouse plagues, fires and of course now the floodwaters. We’ve had our fair share of disasters – it’s just been one disaster after the other.”

Molong pensioner Greg Smith, 75, spent Sunday night inside his caravan, laying on a wet bed with his dog, hoping the flash flooding didn’t creep any higher than his knees.

“I was talking to my mate from the SES on the phone, waiting to be rescued,” Smith said. “It was pretty scary while I was in it. I just had to wait until 8.30 in the morning [on Monday] when I could get out. If I stepped out of the caravan I would have been swept away, it came so fast. I broke out in sweats all night last night. Everything inside is a write-off. Got to start again.”

Two days later, he was still at the caravan park in Molong, where he’s lived for seven years, as a small group finishes clearing the wreckage from when flash flooding hit the town at late notice. There were free snags offered on the main road as shops were cleared out and mangled fences were removed from muddy parks.

The anxiety about what happens next for Smith grows as his caravan is out of action and due to cost thousands in repairs. “I’m put up at a motel in Orange for the next three nights, but what do I do after that? I’m a pensioner, I can’t afford $240 a night,” he said.

Just a few kilometres south, communities like Cowra, Canowindra, Forbes and Parkes also were taking stock after back-to-back flooding events. But many agree: this is the worst they have seen it yet.

Canowindra residents Amanda Walker and Paul Trudgett were asleep when they received an evacuation text on Monday morning. It was only when a neighbour came to check on the pair that they realised the water was lapping at their door.

Despite their best efforts, and that of neighbours, the couple have lost beds, fridges and other items. Their home is covered in bits of newspaper, mud and sludge. The water marker sits just below the window sill at one metre.

“On a good day, this is beautiful. You can’t see the river, it is so beautiful and serene,” Walker says.

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

Now, their grass is brown and muddy, and the swollen river is just metres away. This flood will be the last the couple see. After Monday’s experience, they are going to pack up and leave their home of 17 years.

“It’s Mother Nature, you can’t do anything about it,” Trudgett says.

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