The New South Wales town of Forbes was “worried but prepared” ahead of predicted major flooding on Tuesday, the mayor said, with about 1,000 people told to evacuate amid the crisis engulfing the state’s central west.
One of the largest ever flood responses in the state’s history was under way on Tuesday morning, with 17 flood warnings in place and eight major warnings affecting 25 locations.
The State Emergency Service issued the evacuation warning, saying the Lachlan River was rising faster than anticipated and people needed to get out by immediately or risk being cut off.
With river levels rising faster than expected reaching 10.88 metres, about 500 to 600 homes and businesses were anticipated to be inundated again.
The Forbes deputy mayor, Chris Roylance, said the town was being “cut in half” by the rising flood waters, and that downtown area had been emptied by evacuation orders.
“My wife was one of the last cars through now, the town is about to be cut in half,” he said.
“I’ve lived through many floods in my time here, but this will be the biggest we’ve ever seen.
“Everyone is prepared, we’re all sandbagged and set, we’re just sitting around waiting. We told people to get out and make sure they didn’t wait around, so the CBD has been emptied out. We’re worried, but prepared.”
On the 63rd day of the flood crisis, the NSW emergency services minister, Steph Cooke, spoke of the ongoing devastation, saying Condobolin was entirely isolated.
“This just isn’t people’s houses,” she said. “These are people’s homes. It’s their belongings, it’s their memories, it’s their livelihoods and it’s their futures.”
Business owner and the head of the Forbes Business Chamber, Margaret Duggan, said some businesses could lose up to 50% of stock and trade.
“This should be a positive and happy time, its a time of harvest, and its close to Christmas, but its deja-vu once again after the floods last week,” she said.
“People are very anxious about what’s going to happen, we’re planning for the worst and hoping it doesn’t happen.”
The premier, Dominic Perrottet, said rescue efforts are now focused on the towns of Eugowra and Forbes where 14 aircraft have been used to help stranded residents.
“We know for many of our communities in the central west, there is a lot of pain and a lot of hurt but we’ve got through these challenges in the past and we’ll get through these challenges again,” he said.
“We do expect a difficult period of time over the next couple of days.”
About 100 Australian defence force personnel have been deployed to help in rescue operations with 12 New Zealand volunteers arriving, along with 14 aircraft supporting and rescuing residents and another four helping with logistics and transport.
The SES commissioner, Carlene York, described the response “as one of the biggest operations … across NSW in its history”.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Steven Bernasconi outlined major flooding at Forbes, with the peak similar to 1952 flood levels. He said Cowra could reach 14.3 metres peak, Namoi could reach 13.6 metres and Condoblin at 7.4 metres.
Major flooding is occurring at Bathurst where the river peaked at 6.4 metres but has fallen significantly, and at Eugowra, which peaked at 9 metres and is slowly falling.
The evacuation order for Forbes comes just over a week after it experienced record flooding that damaged homes, businesses and roads.
The latest flooding event has stretched over 63 days with 70 local government areas falling under a natural disaster declaration, Cooke said.
The Wyangala Dam is spilling at record levels, with 230,000ML being released a day, exacerbating flooding along the Lachlan River.
Perrottet said his government is committed to raising the dam, saying it will protect lives.
About 150 people were rescued on Monday from roofs in the central west town of Eugowra and nearby Molong, with extensive damage in the historic town.
SES Ch Supt Dallas Burnes said people in Eugowra were shocked at how quickly the water level had risen.
“The velocity was extremely fast – too fast in many cases to put boats in the water - hence the evacuations we performed yesterday with the 12 assets we had on hand via helicopter,” he told Nine’s Today Show.
The SES had performed 222 flood rescues and received 909 requests for help in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning and 70 local government areas are now subject to natural disaster declarations.
A cold front will move to the south on Tuesday and snow is expected in southern parts of NSW before a high-pressure system from the south leads to conditions clearing on Wednesday.
