The close-knit village had no choice, but to evacuate their homes in 2012 when the river height topped the levee and inundated North Wagga properties with water for weeks on end.

North Wagga stalwart Laurie Blowes, who was president of the residents' group at the time, recalled half of his house trapped beneath the floodwaters.

Prior to the flood, he said residents believed they were protected by a 1-in-20 levee, but it was only after the damage was done that their flood protection was downgraded to a 1-in-8.

Nine years since the last big rain and no upgrade in sight, Mr Blowes said residents could not shake the fear of another flood that will force many to leave the village for good this time.

Wagga historian Sherry Morris said floods had always been a serious problem for the Central and North Wagga communities ever since they were first settled on the floodplain in 1847 and 1849, respectively.

The "floodwaters would come in spasms", Mrs Morris said, but the 2012 floods were like no other. The reason being, she said, was that the water kept flowing back to the village because of the main city levee and the devastation that followed was greater than ever before.

"There were houses that couldn't be salvaged," she said. "They were impacted for several weeks rather than only a week."

It was soon after the flood that Mr Blowes said the village was "promised the world" by politicians and Wagga City Council alike.

He said the idea of 1-in-100-year flood protection had never been on the minds of residents previously, but it was an upgrade promised and entertained when the North Wagga Residents' Association were shown concept drawings of a new levee.

Former Wagga councillor Alan Brown said the last flood gave the city "a nasty fright" and it became the "utmost priority" to give the main city 1-in-100-year flood protection because it would be "a national calamity" if the CBD flooded in the future.

But the North Wagga matter became "a vexed problem," he said, with many residents feeling let down because Central Wagga was afforded higher protection.

Mr Brown said the council at the time had a tough decision to make, which required the councillors to consider preemptive problems, but this was always met by "maximum militancy" of the North Wagga people.

"When you build a levee it costs a lot of money, but you save money because people don't have to be evacuated," he said.

"In the case of North Wagga, you build the levee but would still have to evacuate people because it would become an island and you can't risk people being stuck on an island surrounded by floodwater.

"You didn't solve any problems."

Kevin Poynter, who also served as a councillor during this time, said the studies, which followed the 2012 floods discovered both levees did not have the flood protection that the council and community originally thought.

He said the council explored many alternatives for North Wagga, but they were "not particularly feasible solutions".

In the end, Mr Poynter said the council decided to return flood protection back to the level that everyone originally believed that they had. This meant a 1-in-100-year flood levee for the CBD and a 1-in-20-year flood levee for North Wagga.

"We were making decisions about managing flood events as best we could for the entire community," he said.

Although he understands the disappointment, Mr Poynter said the residents of North Wagga are focused on "a very small section of the river".

"We need to start thinking about how we manage in times of flood because we can't put a levee along the whole river from source to mouth," he said.

"The more we try and control rivers, with changing weather patterns, you're never quite sure what is going to happen and ... we are sometimes making decisions that we don't understand the consequences of in terms of flood paths."

However, Mr Blowes still struggles to understand why the council is adamant that North Wagga "should not get even a little bit more" flood protection than the 1-in-20-year currently proposed.

"They got the money for the main city levee ... if they came over and said look we can't get a 1-in-100, but we can get a 1-in-60 we would jump at that," he said.

But it's not an offer on the table, Mr Blowes said it has reached the point where residents feel unheard and have "turned bitter" towards the council.

"They are dealing with other people's lives and futures, but it doesn't seem to matter," he said.