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ABC News
ABC News
National

Before-and-during photos of Gunnedah and Moree floods reveal scope of damage and isolation

Aerial images have shed more light on the extent of recent flooding in north-west New South Wales.

Moree has seen its worst flood in a decade after the Mehi River, which runs through the town, peaked at 10.5 metres on October 23.

At that height, the bridge between north and south was closed, and Moree was split in two, cutting off many residents' access to essential supplies.

But the volume of water which fell late last week also pushed up nearby creeks, which inundated several properties on the north side of town and left some residents isolated for days.

One of Australia's major highways, the Newell, which you can see traversing north before bending to the east below, was closed for a week after it was submerged in floodwaters.

And inundation of the Gwydir Highway left one of Moree's major roads impassable.

While some bridges managed to avoid being submerged, cars were left stranded as water rose on either side.

The isolation was replicated in several other communities across the north-west region.

Kate Slack-Smith is a teacher at Burren Junction Public School, between Narrabri and Walgett.

After travelling to Sydney for a school sport event, she and her daughter became stuck in Armidale and needed the help of a neighbouring farmer to fly her back into town.

"He'd actually just left (Armidale) but he said, 'That's no worries, I'll turn the plane around'," Ms Slack-Smith said.

"No groceries ... we just grabbed our things and raced straight out to the airport and hopped in the plane."

"We were very, very lucky and he was very generous."

Further south at Gunnedah, residents in low-lying parts of the town experienced their third major flood within two months, with these latest images taken on October 24.

Ken Lloyd lives close to the Namoi River in north Gunnedah, in an area close to what you can see in the below image.

Mr Lloyd said it was his 27th flood in 55 years of living in the town, which had become more frequent this year.

"I've had to move out of my house at least five times (in the last year), I've had two feet of water in it five times," he said.

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