Forbes locals ignore evacuation orders

Residents of the flood-threatened central west NSW town of Forbes are refusing to evacuate their homes, despite warnings.

Forbes local Malcolm Anderson is preparing for the rising waters and has a home-made water level indicator. Picture: Gary Ramage

Residents of the flood-threatened central west NSW town of Forbes are refusing to evacuate their homes, despite emergency authorities urging them to move “as soon as possible”.

The evacuation has been ­ordered for residents living in flood-prone areas, as the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts “major” flooding from Tuesday night.

Many residents say they are prepared because of the frequency of flooding in the area, though this year’s flood is expected to surpass levels seen in 2016, which claimed one life.

Slower floodwaters than usual – due to large amounts of unharvested crops – is also contributing to the hesitancy and complacency.

On Tuesday, the State Emergency Service door-knocked more than 800 properties in flood-prone areas, advising them to leave. Only 225 did.

Lin and Malcolm Anderson, who live next to the Iron Bridge in Forbes, which is expected to reach the major flood level of 10.55m on Tuesday night, won’t be leaving unless police “drag” them away.

The water is already in their backyard.

“We’re not going anywhere unless the police come and tell us to go,” Ms Anderson told The Australian. “We know what it’s going to do here. If they make us go, the police can come and move me on.”

Despite expectations the river will peak at 10.65m on Wednesday, the Andersons are confident it won’t hit the property they’ve lived at for 16 years. “We’re usually sitting at the back of the veranda having a beer at this time of day,” Mr Anderson said.

“If it comes as big as 2016, it’ll cover the entire yard.”

Forbes mayor Phyllis Miller said it was a “slow waiting game” to see how the flood would hit the town, but warned locals not to be complacent. “It’s a lot of water coming. And it’s one of those floods where our lake system isn’t flooded yet, so the locals think, ‘Oh, maybe this isn’t going to flood’, but the water will come around,” she said.

92 year old Alma Fair spoke with SES personnel about the evacuation order as she pruned her garden. Picture: Gary Ramage

“Please stay safe. If you’re in a flood-prone area, do what you’ve got to do to keep yourself safe, whether that’s evacuate or make sure that you’ve done your sandbagging, you’ve got supplies, you’ve got no health issues.”

Alma Fair, who has lived in Forbes for more than 16 years, is not worried, despite living in a flood-affected area. The SES visit­ed her at home on Tuesday as she pruned her garden but the 92-year-old is more concerned she won’t be able to volunteer nearby or drive herself to the shops.

“It’s up off the ground a bit, so I’m not really worried,” Ms Fair said. “I just got some extra food in. We’ll see what happens. I think it might be a little worse than 2016.”

Because of coronavirus, evacuated residents will be housed in hotels and motels instead of traditional evacuation centres.

Multiple agencies are in ­Forbes, with many more arriving in the town, population 8000, on Tuesday. SES volunteers from across the state are helping to prepare for the devastation.

“What we really want to do is just give people as much notice as they can, so they can evacuate as calmly as they can through the day and be in a position where they’re safe before the peak,” SES incident commander Barry Griffiths said.

“I don’t want to be getting to the point where we’re sending boats out and carrying people down the street, and carrying ­elderly people out of homes at two in the morning, because we tried to sort of hold off a little bit too long, just to wait and see.”

Local agronomist Jim Cronin on Monday said he feared the agriculture industry would lose more than $100m of crops.

Many farmers are due to harvest their crops next week, but ­believe at least 80 per cent will be lost to the floods.