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‘Lapping at the verandah’: Forbes residents watch floodwater rise
By Angus Thompson
Herald reporter Angus Thompson and photographer Alex Ellinghausen are on their way to Forbes this morning.
Thompson has spoken to some of the town’s residents on his way there.
Forbes real estate agent Michael Robinson has a home in a low-lying area on the eastern side of the town, which has been flooded for the second time in two weeks.
Floodwaters inundate the town of Forbes in the NSW Central West.Credit:Nine
“Yesterday it came up fairly quickly,” he said, adding it had been inundated up to 1.5 metres of the lower level of his two-storey home after entering it mid-morning on Tuesday.
“We’re waiting it out on the top level, we’ve got plenty of food, the electricity is running.”
Robinson said his business was in a high part of town that was now effectively an island. However, there were several streets where businesses had been flooded.
“It’s been very disruptive,” he said of the businesses that had only just reopened after the previous fortnight’s flooding before being hit again.
Andrew Quick, who lives near the Lachlan River southeast of the town, said 13 of his 15-acre property was underwater, and the flooding was now about half a metre from his home.
“I’m just looking across at my neighbour’s house and it’s lapping his verandah,” he said.
Town of Hay holds on as Murrumbidgee spills
By Catherine Naylor
A massive effort is under way in the small south-west town of Hay to stop the flooded Murrumbidgee River from entering the town, as communities across the state battle rising waters.
Hay mayor Carol Oataway said while her town only had a population of 2500 people, they had managed to fill 6000 sandbags between them in the past 24 hours, as the river rose to 9.11 metres, its second-highest level on record.
Locals fill sandbags in Hay on Tuesday morning, in an effort to keep the rising Murrumbidgee River out of their town.Credit:Hay SES
“They want to keep this town safe,” she said.
“Locals are going out of their way to assist wherever possible ... this is when the community spirit comes out, when you’re facing potential disaster.”
Read more about the effort here.
Horton flows and dipoles: The science behind floods
A lot of us are probably asking the same question right about now - how is it flooding again?
Herald reporter Ben Cubby has answered that very question in an analysis piece that you can read here. He writes:
After a year of record rainfall, NSW is like a saturated kitchen sponge. Vast volumes of water have been absorbed into the ground, soaking clay-rich soils inland and sandier soils towards the coast.
“But there’s only so much water you can absorb in a kitchen sponge until there are no more holes left in the sponge,” said Kimberley Reid, a Monash University climate researcher.
Like the bushfires of 2019-20, when droughts had primed the landscape to burn, now the state is primed to flood.
Watch: Helicopter surveys flood damage
The Nine helicopter was up earlier, surveying flood damage across Central NSW.
Its first stop was in Wyangala, followed by Cowra and Forbes.
You can watch it back below:
Forbes mayor says Lachlan River about to peak
‘Not expecting big rainfall’: Weekend forecast weakens
By Sarah Keoghan
I’ve just spoken to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Senior Meteorologist Jonathan How.
It sounds like this new weather system – which was due to bring more rain to the state’s Central West over the weekend – won’t be as bad as first thought.
The original forecast was bringing major anxiety to residents of the Central West, as any significant rainfall will have a huge impact on already saturated lands.
“The system is supposed to move through quite quickly and push offshore by Sunday afternoon,” How said about the cold front.
“The main thing any rainfall is going to cause is water over the roads; we are not expecting riverine flooding this time.”
Showers and storms from the weather system will mostly hit Tasmania and Victoria. About two to five millimetres are forecast to fall over the Central West. At worst, isolated falls of ten millimetres are forecast, but will likely hit the south-west of the state towards Broken Hill.
“Generally, we are not expecting big rainfall totals,” he said.
“But ... because everything is so wet, any rainfall is a concern, so we are doing flood assessment every day.”
In even better news, How also said there is a significant dry spell forecast for the Central West after the weather system moves offshore on Monday. Hopefully, this means residents will get the reprieve needed to continue with the clean-up effort.
Family perched on truck trailer for six hours to survive
By Stephanie Gardiner, Maureen Dettre and Murray McCloskey
Eugowra resident Kelly Chambers was celebrating her twin daughters’ 23rd birthday on Sunday night in the house the family bought less than a year ago.
Just hours later, they climbed out a window and waded through waist-deep water as a torrent tore through the small town.
A destroyed home in EugowraCredit:Rhett Wyman
Ms Chambers, her husband, their three children and her parents eventually found a truck trailer to perch on.
They stayed there for six hours before a fire truck delivered them to the evacuation centre at the showground, from where they were flown to Orange.
“It’s devastating. Anything that is a memory is gone,” Ms Chambers said
Eugowra residents have described two sudden and intense surges of water flowing through the town, washing away houses, knocking over structures and leaving destruction like a “war zone”.
AAP
Photos: Eugowra completely destroyed by floodwaters
By Sarah Keoghan
Herald reporter Natassia Chrysanthos and photographer Rhett Wyman made it into Eugowra yesterday against the odds, after almost all roads and bridges into the town were either destroyed or unusable.
Take a look at the photos of the town – which has been described as a “war zone” by residents – below:
Emergency services stretched on 64th day of flood crisis
By Stephanie Gardiner, Maureen Dettre and Murray McCloskey
On the 64th day of the state’s flood crisis, emergency services are stretched to the limit dealing with one of the biggest operations in the state’s history.
As rescue helicopters, military personnel and international emergency crews work across flood zones – and people in the central-western town of Forbes brace for their second inundation in a fortnight – State Emergency Service chaplain Steve Hall said Eugowra had been decimated.
Some Eugowra houses were washed off their foundations after flash flooding in the small town on Monday.Credit:Rhett Wyman
“Everything they hold dear has been swept away in a wall of water,” he said.
People in parts of the north-western town of Gunnedah have been told to evacuate as the area is hit with major flooding. The Namoi River, which runs north of the town, is predicted to peak near 8.2m early today.
In the 24 hours until Wednesday morning, the SES responded to 329 calls for help and performed 17 flood rescues.
SES Chief Superintendent Dallas Burns said floodwaters at Forbes were slowly rising with water spreading throughout the town.
Flash flooding in Eugowra has destroyed homes in the town.Credit:Rhett Wyman
“We’re expecting that peak and that major flooding in Forbes to last a number of days,” he said, adding the flooding would continue in some river valleys and catchments for a number of months.
Fourteen people were rescued in Forbes about 8pm on Tuesday night after the Plainsman Motel was inundated. A rescue helicopter rescued an elderly couple, their daughter and two small dogs from a Forbes home that was threatened by rising waters about 10pm.
About 1000 people and up to 600 homes and businesses are affected by evacuation orders in the town.
Crews have been door-knocking and sandbagging after 120mm of rain fell in a matter of hours early on Monday, causing ferocious flash flooding and forcing Wyangala Dam to spill into the swollen Lachlan River.
The torrential rain doubled the height of Mandagery Creek at Eugowra, east of Forbes, early on Monday, devastating the town of 800 people.
AAP
Singapore, US troops to arrive later this week
By Sarah Keoghan
Fire and Rescue NSW Chief Superintendent Ken Murphy has confirmed the state’s Central West will receive help from crews coming in from Singapore and the United States later this week.
In a first for the SES, the emergency service called for overseas assistance as personnel continue to be stretched to their limits.
A specialist incident command team from New Zealand arrived in Parkes on Tuesday and were put to work in Forbes.
Teams from the United States and Singapore will be brought in ahead of the weekendwhen more rainfall is forecast to fall in the region.
“It’s so great to have them here. They have moulded so well into the team here, they are fitting in well with all the other resources we have from the partner agencies,” Murphy said.
“It is a sign of how serious things are on the ground. Our teams have been going very hard at this since February.”
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2022-11-15 23:59:33Z
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