'Significant' rain system headed for Wagga next week

Duty forecaster Claire Yeo said “a significant system”, which could be similar to one that dumped 80mm of rain on Ballarat in 24 hours, will fall across the southeast in the middle of next week.

“Wagga could well end up with similar to what we’ve seen in Victoria and South Australia,” Ms Yeo said. 

“A lot of places got their September average in only a few days.

“There are some differences between various models but it’s shaping up to be a significant rain event throughout inland NSW.”

The State Emergency Service’s (SES) Murrumbidgee Region command has called a snap flood meeting for Friday night in North Wagga after questions from North Wagga residents. SES and council representatives will be at North Wagga Community Hall from 6.30pm.

SES public information officer Heidi Groom said members of the community had been asking “a few questions”, which was why the meeting was called. 

“We want residents to be able to speak to the authorities about the situation,” Ms Groom said. 

“Council had put out some pumps and some residents thought it meant there would be a big flood. 

“We want to reassure people about what the level really is, we don’t want people panicking unnecessarily.”

In the first two weeks of September Wagga had received about 99mm of rain, putting the city on track to beat the 128mm record set in 1978 if the predicted rain arrived. 

The Murrumbidgee River is slowly falling from its 8.3 metre peak, as water moves west toward Narrandera, which is subject to a moderate flood warning for Saturday.

Burrinjuck Dam is sitting at 97 per cent capacity, with releases being managed so they don’t coincide with river peaks.

A spokesman for state dam operator WaterNSW said there were regular meetings with BoM when there is a possibility of heavy rainfall and high flows.

“WaterNSW considers BoM’s forecasts when scheduling releases from the dams and we have been able to schedule the release from Burrinjuck to coincide with the periods of low tributary flows, significantly below the peak flows from the tributaries,” the spokesman said.

“The two flood peaks that have gone through Wagga over the past two weeks have been entirely from the tributaries downstream of the dam.

“Despite earlier claims, there has never been a fixed airspace zone at Burrinjuck Dam, which provided flood mitigation with releases set on the minimum of 600ML per day while the tributaries were peaking.”