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.
The effort came as the body of a woman was found by police in Eugowra. The identity is yet to formally established. However, it is believed to be that of missing 60-year-old woman Diane Smith.
The body is believed to be that of missing 60-year-old woman Diane Smith.
The death marks the first of this November’s Central West flood crisis.
Hay mayor Carol Oataway said that 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. Across NSW, there are 120 flood warnings in place.
“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.”
Further down the road, the small village of Maude had been cut off, Oataway said, and council crews were working furiously to bolster the village levy to keep the water out.
“As of yesterday they had no phone or power,” she said. “We have made contact with the residents and they’re all safe. If they need anything, the SES will be able to help with whatever they require.”
She said the expansive Hay Plains – known as the flattest place in the Southern Hemisphere – was usually dry and filled with grass and kangaroos, but it was now a sea of water that was drawing rare birdlife to the area.
“You look out there and think you’re looking at the ocean, but that’s our Murrumbidgee River, spreading out across the Hay Plains.”
Hay mayor Carol Oataway.
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.
More than 160 emergency personnel, including 12 volunteers from New Zealand, have been deployed to help in the flood-ravaged Central West and more are expected from Singapore and the United States.
In Forbes, where the NSW State Emergency Service rescued 14 people overnight from a local hotel, residents are nervously watching the Lachlan River, which is now expected to peak on Thursday.
The river has been steady at 10.67 metres since 1.30am on Wednesday, but the Bureau of Meteorology says it is possible it could reach the record 10.8 metres set in 1952, which would result in the inundation of about 500 homes.
Some residents have also been told to evacuate in towns including Gunnedah, Condobolin, Canowindra, Cowra, and Albury, as well as some nearby villages.
The usually dry Hay Plains have been turned into a sea of water.
In Eugowra, the search continues for two people missing after devastating roof-high flash flooding early on Monday.
Dianne Smith, 60, last spoke to a relative on the phone from her car on Monday morning and Ljubisa “Les” Vugec, 85, was last seen at his Eugowra home about the same time.
State Emergency Service chaplain Steve Hall said Eugowra has been decimated in the disaster.
“Everything they hold dear has been swept away in a wall of water,” he said.
Locals fill sandbags in Hay on Tuesday morning, in an effort to keep the rising Murrumbidgee River out of their town.Credit:Hay SES
The SES has responded to 329 calls for help and performed 17 flood rescues in the 24 hours to 5am on Wednesday.
Among those rescued by helicopter were an elderly couple, their daughter and two small dogs, when their Forbes home was threatened by rising waters about 10pm.
Months of rain, and especially heavy falls at the weekend, triggered the latest flood crisis in the Central West, forcing Wyangala Dam to spill into the swollen Lachlan River at a rate of 230,000 megalitres a day.
Houses have been washed off their foundations in Eugowra.Credit:Rhett Wyman
The torrential rain doubled the height of Mandagery Creek at Eugowra, east of Forbes, where Kelly Chambers was celebrating her twin daughters’ 23rd birthday on Sunday night, in the house the family bought less than a year ago.
Hours later, they climbed out a window and waded through waist-deep water to escape a torrent of water that tore through their village.
“It’s devastating. Anything that is a memory is gone,” Ms Chambers said.
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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”.
with AAP
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