Heavy rains have brought flooding to parts of Tasmania, with flooded roads and emergency crews kept busy — but weather forecasters say the worst has passed.
Key points:
A number of severe weather warnings are in place for areas of Tasmania
Roads have been closed and electricity cut due to downed powerlines
The BOM says the worst of the rains have passed
Thousands of people were without electricity on Sunday morning, with Tasmania’s electricity utility TasNetworks reporting outages in Eaglehawk Neck, Highcroft, Koonya, Nubeena, Port Arthur, Premaydena, White Beach and surrounds “believed to be weather related”.
At 10am, the SES’s Leon Smith said there had been 40 call outs for “minor flood damage”.
“Things like water coming in through rooves, gutters overflowing, and water coming into homes.”
He said the calls starting coming from the northern suburbs and Greater Hobart area, but “as the system is moving south, crews are now active in the Huonville and Franklin areas.”
Mr Smith said there was “potential for thunderstorm activity”.
The SES will hold a press conference at 1pm today to update the situation.
A wet scene at Mountain River, south of Hobart.(Supplied: Kinnan Brightman)
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Deb Tabor said “certainly, the worst of it has happened.”
“But it will still be wet for the rest of the day, particularly in the east and south the winds will start to ease off, and they will get a little bit gustier in the afternoon on the east coast.
“Up to 9am this morning, the highest rainfall has been kunanyi/Mt Wellington at 109mm.”
Ms Tabor said there had been 91mm of rainfall at Nugent, 71mm at Mt St John, 68mm at Gray in the north-east, 67mm at Buckland and 56mm in Fern Tree.
Water has cut roads in the flood-prone area of Huonville, 38 kilometers south of Hobart, with Tasmania Police advising the Esplanade is closed due to water from the Huon River over the roadway.
Some residents have reported sandbagging their homes on Flood Road, with assistance from SES volunteers.
Tasmania Police are updating their list of road closures due to the weather.
In Baghdad, 37 kilometers north of Hobart, roads were flooded and residents watched as waterways swelled.
A resident in the town said the “rain was very heavy and the water came up really fast from the time I got up at seven till now”.
“We flood a bit in winter but this is crazy and seems to be getting worse every year.”
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Heavy rains hit Tasmanian orchard at Grove
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A Cygnet resident said she had “not seen this kind of rain for about 17 years.”
“Last time it washed away our little water crossing at the bottom of our street, this morning it’s starting to overlap that crossing.
“It’s incredible how much water is coming down the creeks, our rain tanks were nearly empty yesterday and today they’re overflowing.”
Stay up to date with the latest warnings on the Bureau of Meteorology’s weather warnings for Tasmania website.
Aurora and Violet could see the bright side of the gloomy weather in Huonville.(ABC News: Daniel Miller)
From the Dragon Boat Regatta in Broome to the Orange Mardi Gras festival on the other side of the country, community events are being canceled and emergency services are struggling to cope as the number of volunteers plummets.
The trend has triggered soul-searching among community groups and charities — is it a temporary blip linked to the COVID pandemic, or have Australians become more selfish?
“What we’ve seen is a longer-term decline in volunteering rates, and that’s been amplified by the COVID pandemic,” Volunteering Australia CEO Mark Pearce says.
Emergency service crews are staffed mainly by volunteers in many parts of regional Australia.(Supplied)
“There are also changes in how people want to volunteer and participate — there’s increasing demand for flexibility that doesn’t necessarily correlate with the structure of formal volunteering programs.”
The 2021 census data recorded a 19 per cent drop in volunteering since the last snapshot in 2016. The finding is backed up by more regular, in-depth social surveys done by the ABS.
The number of Australians volunteering has reduced significantly in recent years.
The biggest decline has been recorded in the 15-24 year old age group, the same age group posting an increasing number of controversial ‘good deed’ stunts on social media.
The depletion of the volunteer brigade is affecting sports clubs, emergency services and long-established organizations like Rotary and Lions, that help run events and raise funds for local charities.
Country towns suffering
The impact is most noticeable in regional areas, where event organizers and first-responders are more likely to be unpaid.
As a result, some events are being cancelled, such as the annual Dragon Boat Regatta in Broome.
The Dragon Boat Regatta sees dozens of teams race in Broome’s Roebuck Bay.(Supplied: Abby Murray Photography)
It has been a popular fixture in the town for almost 20 years, and raises tens of thousands of dollars for charity. But this year there weren’t enough people to organize or run it.
“The practical impact in regional and remote Australia is that social activities and the cohesion that takes place by community coming together is lost or significantly reduced,” Mr Pearce says.
“And that has implications for the livability of these communities in which people choose to spend their lives.”
The Dragon Boat Regatta is usually organized by the local Rotary chapter, which currently has only a handful of members.
It is hoping to find enough local people to help with the nine-month organizing process to revive the regatta in 2023.
The Drags on Boats team debuted at the 2015 Dragon Boat Regatta, where most ended up in the water.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
Events fighting across the country
Meanwhile in Alice Springs, organizers are struggling to pull together enough volunteers to hold the beloved Henley-on-Todd Regatta, which raises money for local Rotary Club projects.
Every August, teams of people race on the dry Todd River in boats without bottoms in front of a crowd of about 4,000 people.
Secretary Ron Saint said getting the right number of volunteers had been “tenuous.”
“We would like to have 130 but we’ve got about a hundred. So we’re at that point where we’d like to have 12 people doing a certain role but we’ll have nine or eight,” he said.
Organizers are hoping more locals will get involved to ensure the future of the Henley-on-Todd river race.(ABC News: Alexandra Fisher)
“It’s not going to stop the event … but you’d want a few more [people] in case someone can’t make it.”
Mr Saint believed some people who might volunteer were now trying to make up for paid work lost during COVID lockdowns.
“People are time poor and as we try to get the economy kick started again it’s difficult to commit the discretionary time for volunteer work,” he said.
In March, a proposed inaugural Mardi Gras celebration in Orange, in central west New South Wales, was canceled for the third year in a row when the small team of people organizing the Rainbow City Festival event became “exhausted” from repeatedly having to postpone it .
The Rainbow City Festival will focus on providing more smaller-scale events in the future. (ABC News: Kevin Nguyen)
What’s causing the decline?
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that people aged 40 to 54 are most likely to volunteer.
Women and men participate at a similar rate, with the greatest number of people volunteering with sporting clubs and religious groups.
People living in remote areas are most likely to volunteer, but the rates in regional and urban areas are almost identical.
Social researcher Hugh Mackay has been monitoring Australian attitudes and lifestyle habits for six decades.
“This is a weird period we are in at the moment, that helps explain the decline of volunteering,” he says.
“We’ve been changing in ways that have made us more individualistic, much more concerned about ‘me and my rights and my entitlements and my identity’.
Ever the optimist, social researcher Hugh Mackay sees a silver lining in the COVID cloud.(Supplied)
“And that’s all working against our natural proclivities to be kind and compassionate and cooperative and help each other out.
“But it’s also worth noting that organizations that want volunteers have probably not been quite nimble enough, and not understanding all these societal shifts and the changing culture.”
dr mackaysays the main change has been a withdrawal from community involvement.
This has been caused by an increase in the use of social media to stay “connected’; people living alone; and the trend for having fewer children, resulting in fewer opportunities to develop local friendships through schools and kids’ sporting clubs.
“We’ve also become too ‘busy’, and being ‘busy’ is a kind of hiding place, a barrier between us and others,” he says.
“It’s the enemy of social cohesion and the enemy of volunteering, because as long as we can convince ourselves we’re too busy to help other people, we can get away with it – we have made being busy a virtue.”
Are young people the problem?
Dr Mackay rejects the notion that young people are too selfish to volunteer, saying a more nuanced shift has occurred.
“Millennials have grown up with a deep sense of impermanence and have adopted a mantra of ‘let’s keep our options open’,” he says.
Every year dozens of volunteers are needed to be the ‘legs’ of Sammy the Dragon, as part of Broome’s Shinju Matsuri.(Supplied: Abby Murray Photography)
“Committing to anything long-term runs against the ethos of this generation, so they will be happy to help out, but reluctant to join up to anything that requires a weekly meeting or a long-term program.
“One of the favorite occupations of older people through history has been to bash younger people and complain about them.
“But it’s worth remembering that the rise of individualism is not a generational phenomenon, it’s happening right across the age ranges.”
All at sea as volunteers jump ship
Some organizations are adapting by asking people to help out with one-off events, or ramping up social media recruitment campaigns.
But sometimes the challenge is retaining the volunteer recruits who do sign up.
In the waters off Broome, it is a matter of life or death — every few weeks the volunteer Sea Rescue team is called out to save a sinking or stranded vessel.
Volunteer skipper Gareth Owen briefs crew on a planned training exercise.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
Skipper Gareth Owen says cyclones, crocodiles and big tides make it a hazardous job.
“It’s vital we’re able to crew the vessel, because the calls can come at any time,” he says.
“It’s always very close as to whether we have enough people.
“It’s a major problem, because we’re low on numbers and the commitment to training is quite high, so it can be difficult to maintain people’s enthusiasm.”
Mr Owen, who originally signed up to learn marine skills with his young sons, says he’s not surprised the latest census data shows a drop in volunteer numbers.
“I think we’ve seen over the past few years that some people have become a bit more self-centered and they don’t go out as much because of COVID,” he says.
“So I guess a lot of people have prioritized families, and that has put pressure on volunteer groups like us.”
Annie Stephenson has been volunteering with the group for two years, and coordinates recruitment.
Annie Stephenson says she benefited from volunteer organizations as a child, so is keen to contribute.(ABC News: Erin Parke )
Ms Stephenson says a recent advertising campaign attracted more than 20 people, but the numbers dropped away as they realized the commitment involved.
“It’s one thing to recruit people, but retaining them can be hard,” she says.
“Because there’s so much training involved, we’re looking for people who can commit for two years minimum, but people’s circumstances change, they’ll get a new job or have family commitments, which is totally understandable.
“The key thing for us is to have a big enough pool of qualified crew to share the load and fatigue management, and to make sure people don’t get burned out.”
One of the new recruits is 18-year-old Byron Schaffer.
He says he doesn’t know many people his age who volunteer regularly.
Byron Schaffer (left) is training as a Sea Rescue volunteer in Broome.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
“I think some teenagers see it as something that ‘adults’ do, people who are a bit more settled down,” he says.
“I really enjoy it, it’s something to do in your free time that makes you feel good.”
What does the future hold?
Volunteering Australia says there has been a small increase in participation rates this year, following the easing of COVID restrictions.
But they are still well short of the volunteer numbers of five years ago.
Volunteer skipper Gareth Owen hopes recent natural disasters might prompt Australians to sign up and offer their time and expertise.
Thousands of Australians volunteered during recent bushfires and floods.(Supplied: Queensland Department of Community Safety )
“With the floods and the firefighters you see so many awesome volunteers doing things, and I think people forget they are volunteers because they’re doing such an excellent job and they’re at it for so long,” he says.
“Sometimes people might think it’s part of the service we get for being Australian, and not realize we need to put our hand up and look out for each other by volunteering.”
Dr Mackay, now aged 83, remains optimistic.
“I think this rise of individualism marks a really weird, aberrant period in human history, and it’s not actually who we are,” he reflects.
“I think our true nature as communitarians, cooperators, and kind and compassionate people who look out for each other will re-emerge.”
“The pendulum is going to swing back, I am sure of it.”
Australia’s national weather agency has issued a staunch defense of its handling of deadly flooding in New South Wales earlier this year, after a parliamentary report found it did not comprehend the scale of the threat.
Key points:
The Bureau of Meteorology has defended its role in the 2022 flood event, arguing government and communities were warned
A NSW parliamentary report found the bureau used “incorrect” data to brief agencies
A residents group wants more control over decisions made in a flood crisis
Five people died in the first flood event in the Northern Rivers on February 28, with evacuation orders for towns such as Lismore issued through the night as flood waters tore through the region.
A NSW parliamentary committee found the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) was not prepared, that information used to make decisions was “incorrect and out of date”, and recommended it review its data processes.
The bureau declined to be interviewed by the ABC but in a statement a spokesperson said the agency “strongly refutes” the committee’s findings.
The statement outlined how the BOM warned governments, including national cabinet, and the community in 2021 of a likely La Niña event and above-average flooding risk across Australia’s north and east.
Specifically in relation to flooding in northern NSW, it said it told the State Emergency Service (SES) five days before the first event of “the potential for life-threatening flash-flooding over the NSW north coast” and that it issued flood watches and warnings “many days in advance”.
“The bureau also explicitly identified the risk for intense localized rain events, life threatening flash flooding and the potential for rapid river rises,” it said.
The Northern Rivers flood event was the region’s worst on record.(ABC North Coast: Ruby Cornish)
The statement also addressed the report findings that some agencies treated it “as a nine-to-five business operation”, arguing it was instead a “365 days a year, 24/7 operation”.
The bureau said that for this event, a specialized meteorologist and a hydrologist were embedded with the SES at the Wollongong headquarters, and that the bureau supplied area-specific briefings to agencies.
It also noted that engagement with the parliamentary committee had been “limited”, and that a separate independent flood inquiry, which has handed its report to the government but was not yet public, was much more proactive with asking for information.
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Probe finds lead emergency agencies failed in flood response(Bruce MacKenzie)
‘more of the same’
Kyogle Shire Council general manager Graham Kennett said the report was missing recommendations to improve telecommunications, which were crucial for monitoring levels to make decisions.
“If we know what’s going on in this catchment and in that catchment, then we have warning times and we can predict flood levels to a degree of accuracy that is good enough to make informed decisions about when people need to leave,” he said.
“It takes 45 minutes to an hour for the data to get online and in some cases that is too long for a decision-making process.”
In Lismore, a group of residents said the 37 recommendations did not go far enough, and wanted locals to be given the power to make decisions in future flood events
The parliamentary committee slammed the response of the SES during the flood crisis, accusing it of “issuing out of date, inaccurate and confusing messages”.
It has recommended that a restructure of the SES be conducted to harness local knowledge and increase the number of salaried staff and volunteers.
Beth Trevan (left) believes the recommendations do not afford local people enough autonomy.(ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie)
Lismore Citizens Flood Review group coordinator Beth Trevan said while the inquiry findings mirrored the group’s submission, the recommendations were “disappointing” as they appeared to be “more of the same”.
Ms Trevan wants local people on the ground to have the power to make decisions.
“In the past we’ve had long term local people, who had been here for 30 or 40 years and were in senior positions at a regional level … and the knowledge of the entire area and the knowledge of all the agencies and the people who ran them was at their fingertips,” she said.
“By the time it gets transferred from here to Sydney and they have a chat with the bureau, the time is wasted, and we don’t have time.”
Catherine Cusack left parliament in protest of her party’s handling of the flood crisis.(abcnews)
Catherine Cusack represented the Liberal Party on the parliamentary committee, but no longer sits in parliament after letting her membership lapse in protest at her party’s handling of the crisis.
She fell short of backing the notion that local people should be making decisions but said they should be “more front and centre”.
“Of all the data that flows into them, there’s just no capacity for locals to say ‘I don’t know what it is in your gauges … but all I can tell you is the water is meters high up here in an unprecedented way’ ,” she said.
The SES said it is reviewing the report and will provide a response to parliament.
A parliamentary inquiry has found the government agencies in charge of preparing for and responding to major flooding in New South Wales this year failed affected communities.
Key points:
A NSW parliamentary committee has found lead agencies failed to warn and protect communities
It is recommending the SES restructure to harness local knowledge, and that Resilience NSW be abolished
The weather bureau is also being told to consider reviewing its data
Seven people died and thousands of people were displaced or cut off when floodwaters devastated the Northern Rivers region twice since late February.
Despite calls from authorities to stand down, residents took to boats and jet skis to rescue each other from rooftops, and took with them axes and other equipment to cut open roof cavities in which people were stuck.
Led by Labor’s Walt Secord, the parliamentary committee took evidence at a series of hearings across the state’s north as well as Western Sydney, where floods also became deadly.
“The committee found that the [State Emergency Service and Resilience NSW] failed to provide leadership and effective coordination in the community’s greatest time of need,” Mr Secord told parliament as he tabled the report.
The NSW Parliamentary Flood Inquiry held hearings on the north coast in May.(ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie)
The report found that information from the State Emergency Service (SES) and Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) was “incorrect and out of date”, leaving the community with “no other option but to ignore government advice and save lives”.
It made 37 recommendations, including that the SES, the state’s lead agency in a flood event, undergo a restructure to harness local knowledge and employ more salaried staff.
It urged the weather bureau to review its rain data infrastructure and flood modeling tools.
The report found the state agencies and BOM were “not prepared for, nor did they comprehend the scale” of the floods and that “some agencies were criticized for treating it as a nine to five business operation”.
Lismore resident Billy Curry was one of many in the “tinny army” who took it upon themselves to rescue people the day his home town went under.
He agreed there did not seem to be enough resources to assess and respond to the situation, and that without the impromptu volunteers “the community would have been in a lot of trouble”.
“There were scenes there where you were ducking under power lines and street lights in a boat,” he said.
“We lifted 64 older people from an elderly aged care place into a boat, so that’s something you don’t forget.”
Billy Curry wants a database created to better manage willing and able volunteers.(ABC North Coast: Bruce MacKenzie)
Mr Curry said he wanted the State Emergency Service to adopt a database of volunteers who had lifesaving skills and equipment such as jet skis, who could be quickly briefed via SMS in an emergency.
“Also, there was no management of knowing who was in the water and how many people were volunteering,” Mr Curry said.
“SW [no] database of managing the demand of incidences, that definitely stood out, it was absolute chaos.”
The committee has also recommended the NSW Government consider abolishing Resilience NSW, the disaster recovery agency set up in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires, currently led by former Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
The inquiry is separate to an independent report, that the government has received but not made public, which the ABC understands will also recommend dismantling Resilience NSW.
Both the SES and Resilience NSW told the ABC they would consider the findings before responding to parliament.
A spokesman for the NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said they did not know when the report would be tabled and that the minister would not be able to comment “until the NSW Government actually receives the report and has an opportunity to review and respond”.
The report findings include:
SES and Resilience NSW failed as lead agencies
SES was hindered by centralization and shortage of volunteers
SES issued out of date, inaccurate and confusing messages
Community members had no other option but to ignore government advice and save lives
Grants process was insensitive and compounded trauma
NSW Government agencies lacked coordination, created confusion
Demarcation disputes between NSW Government agencies slowed the roll-out of support
NSW Government failed to adequately prepare effective temporary and long-term housing solutions
Recommendations for NSW Government include:
Consider a restructure of SES to harness local knowledge, coordinate more closely with other rescue agencies, increase salaried staff and drive volunteer recruitment
Consider abolishing Resilience NSW
Appoint a senior police officer to lead recovery efforts
Prioritize the rebuild of Cabbage Tree Island
Significantly increase investment in flood mitigation and preparation
Residents in parts of Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Riverina have been ordered to evacuate as floodwaters rise.
The State Emergency Service has told people in and around low-lying areas to leave before 6pm on Sunday evening, August 7.
The areas include:
• Edward Street West • Flowerdale Road •Roach Road • McNickle Road •Lower Gardener Street •Wilks Park • Eunony Bridge Road •Mill Street
The SES says once flood waters reach 8.7 meters at the Wagga gauge, roads will be cut and access to water and sewerage may be lost.
SES deputy southern zone commander Barry Griffiths said the order had been issued because of concerns roads would be cut off, rather than houses being inundated.
He said about 120 residents were affected by the order.
Barry Griffiths warns residents even shallow flood water is a hazard.(ABC Riverina: Romy Stephens)
“Essentially this one’s been done on the public safety issue,” he said.
“Properties should be OK at these levels but there are some areas of the North Wagga area, north of the Murrumbidgee River, that do experience quite rapid water moving through which is dangerous to motorists.
“Even shallow water is capable of killing.”
People who choose to stay after 6pm could be trapped without power and it may be too dangerous for the SES to rescue them.
Wherever possible, people should go and stay with family or friends but there is an evacuation center at Kyeamba Smith Hall, at the Wagga Wagga Showground.
The Murrumbidgee River is still rising at Wagga Wagga. (ABC Riverina: Gary-Jon Lysaght)
Farmer prepares for floodwater
John Keough, who owns more than 20 hectares on the floodplain near Flowerdale Lagoon, has prepared livestock and equipment to be moved if needed.
He said he was not overly concerned about his property being impacted.
“We’re on the river so it floods, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful spot, beautiful soil and the reason is because you get floods so you just live with that.”
Moderate flooding is also possible at Narrandera from Tuesday.
Residents of north-east of Victoria are keeping a close eye on predictions of a wet spring.
Key points:
The Bureau of Meteorology says a wetter August to October is likely for most of the country
A local caravan park owner says a quarter of the park was flooded on Saturday
Residents are warned to be vigilant to any weather changes
The Bureau of Meteorology recently said a wetter August to October was likely for most of the country, including more than double the normal chance of unusually high rainfall for most areas in the eastern-two thirds of the mainland.
North-east Victoria has already recorded good rainfall, hail, as well as a number of flood alerts and minor flood events just a week into August.
Walwa Riverside Caravan Park owner and manager Heidi Conway said the Murray River had peaked about five meters at the park late on Friday and into Saturday morning.
“The Murray River broke the bank and came into our park so we’ve probably got a quarter of the park underwater at the moment,” she said.
“Our cabins are elevated up so it hasn’t affected those at all, but it looks like it’s going down now.”
‘You can’t stop nature’
Ms Conway said her business was not feeling too many impacts from the latest flooding event given it was quiet over winter.
She said Saturday’s flooding was similar to the last flooding event they saw at the park in September 2021
She said the latest event had arrived earlier than usual.
Ms Conway says it’s not great to have to deal with flooding concerns.(Supplied: Heidi Conway)
“Normally we would look at maybe flooding towards September but due to seasonal changes we’ve copped it now as well,” she said.
“We have heard that we will have a wet year so that will impact the amount of people that we have in the park.
“After COVID and everything it’s not a great thing to happen but you can’t stop nature so we just have to look to all the things that we can do to deal with that.”
Ms Conway said despite the latest weather challenges she still expected to have a busy period leading up to, and during, Christmas.
Eyes on the sky
Victoria State Emergency Service north-east duty officer Dan Walton said the heaviest of the weekend’s rain had come and gone.
He said his organization was expecting steadier conditions early next week.
But he said it was important for community members to remain vigilant to any weather changes.
“This is not going to go away.” he said.
“We’re going to have the next several months of wet, warmer than average temperatures, more than average rainfall.
“This is going to continue until probably, at least, through November.”
Gundagai in southern New South Wales is bracing for major flooding, with local SES crews expecting up to 90,000 megalitres to start being released from Burrinjuck Dam this afternoon.
Key points:
SES crews responded to more than 70 calls for assistance and carried out 10 rescues across inland NSW overnight
The service is urging people not to make the “poor decision” to drive through floodwater
Farmers on the Murrumbidgee River are preparing for imminent flooding in the Gundagai area
The dam began spilling this morning as more than 100,000ML of water flowed in from tributaries, including the Yass and Queanbeyan rivers, following rain totals of more than 100 millimetres in the Burrinjuck catchment.
Farmers along the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai are moving their stock to higher ground in preparation, with the possibility of the river reaching 8.5 meters this evening and 9m by Saturday morning.
The SES is also deploying extra crews to Temora, which recorded 60mm of rain overnight.
Creeks north of the town are rising.
“We had a band of rain that passed through Idaho and out past Cootamundra that brought, give or take, 20 to 30mm yesterday evening,” incident controller Barry Griffiths said.
“That’s stabilized overnight, but it produced 71 calls for assistance.”
Many roads are closed across the Cootamundra-Gundagai Local Government Area, including Thompson Street.(Supplied: Gail Douglas)
Mr Griffiths said four rescues had been carried out.
“We have some low-lying water around the Temora area triggering some rescues for us — we had two overnight and two happening at the moment,” he said.
“It looks like people were driving and got cut off on the road.”
Mr Griffith said warnings were in place for drivers to avoid flooded roads.
“If the road that you drive on normally does get flooding, assume that it is and drive the long way around,” he said.
The BOM is warning that moderate flooding is also possible at Wagga Wagga tomorrow afternoon.
The female driver of this car was found safe after it was submerged near Mudgee.(Supplied)
Woman found safe in Mudgee
Further north, a woman has been found safe after her vehicle was swept into flood waters in the New South Wales Central West overnight, as other parts of the state brace for major flooding.
At 6.30pm yesterday emergency services were called to Macdonalds Creek at Erudgere, about 15 kilometers north-west of Mudgee, following reports that a vehicle had been swept into a causeway by flash floodwater.
A search and rescue operation led to the discovery of a vehicle submerged in the waterway.
Police were later notified a 59-year-old woman sought assistance at a nearby property in Piambong.
She has been taken to Mudgee Hospital for assessment.
Bathurst’s Hereford Street has been rendered impassable.(Supplied: Simon Fraser)
The rescue was one of seven local SES crews responded to across the region.
Others occurred at Wellington, Gulgong, Ballimore, Coonabarabran and Coolah.
The SES helped with sandbagging overnight.(Supplied: SES)
“Unfortunately, for the most part they were people who made the pretty poor decision to drive through flooded causeways and they’ve been stranded as a result,” SES spokesperson David Rankin said.
“We have seen falls of between 50 and 60mm right across areas of the Central West,” he said.
“That’s resulted in a number of rivers around here in some degree of flood over last night and into this morning.”
The BOM has numerous severe weather and flood warnings in place for much of the state, including Wellington. (ABC NewsHugh Hogan)
Mr Rankin said SES crews received more than 45 calls for assistance, many of which were related to strong winds.
Crew members spent the night removing branches and trees from roofs and tarping them.
“It’s been a really busy night, thankfully the worst of the rain in the Central West has passed,” Mr Rankin said.
“But we’ve still got flooding on the Castlereagh, Bell, upper and lower Macquarie rivers, the Bogan, the Darling, the Belubula.”
