While the Murrumbidgee River peaked at 8.3 metres on Monday afternoon, it may just be the start of weeks of flooding in the region with more rain on the way.
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Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Andrew Haigh said a cold front making its way across NSW could dump anywhere from 20mm to 40mm of rain on Tuesday night.
“We expect a rain band to develop from the west and move across the region throughout the day, developing in the afternoon,” Mr Haigh said.
“We expect the rain to continue on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and it should clear by the afternoon with a few showers lingering.
“There is also a bucketload of flood warnings current for the area.”
Brad Nash from the State Emergency Services’ (SES) Murrumbidgee regional office said the organisation was prepared to be on standby for a while yet.
“It looks like there’s a fair bit (of rain) on the way and we’ll need to remain operational longer,” Mr Nash said.
“We have to monitor the situation closely and keep an eye on managing fatigue levels.”
Visiting crews from across the state were being rotated out as southern Sydney and mid-north coast crews arrived to take up the slack.
“We’re still a bit uncertain about what’s coming, we’re waiting for models to firm up, we could possibly see 40mm of rain by the end of the week,” Mr Nash said.
“The peak has happened and it should drop now.”
Wagga councillor Paul Funnell said he didn’t want to be a “scaremonger” or make people nervous, but he claimed there was a chance of another eight weeks of similar weather on the way.
“With the river peaking and the ground soaked, we could potentially be on the precipice of a major flood,” he said.
“If there’s enough time between storm cells and the dams can empty a bit we could be okay, but there’ll still be a high river for some weeks that will destroy tens of thousands of hectares of crops.
“As the temperature rises and snow begins to melt into dams that are already at capacity, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Floodwater is now moving west down the river and over land, particularly in the Griffith area where broadacre farmers are preparing for inundation.
Murrumbidgee SES crews received 71 calls for help at the weekend.
Stephen Mudd
Stephen Mudd is a journalist for Fairfax Media west of the great divide. He loves music, dogs and travel.
Stephen Mudd is a journalist for Fairfax Media west of the great divide. He loves music, dogs and travel.
