A Wagga Fire and Rescue crew put a drone up into the skies to gauge water heights and aid the SES yesterday morning. Water NSW technicians also deployed a Flowseeker measuring device at the location of the old Hampden Bridge to get up to date information about the river's flow, velocity and overall water levels.

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The Flowseeker is sent out across the river in a straight line sending out acoustic Doppler signals into the water to find the depth of the river and get a cross section - or transect - of the river.

It then calculates the volume of water flowing past the transect at that particular time, that reading is then checked against Water NSW's stationary instrumentation readings, which then gives the authorities accurate water levels.

The wetted area, or cross section, multiplied by the velocity of the water equals the megalitres per day, Water NSW technicians said.

The high water levels in the area made the job more difficult, as the flooding caused the river to break off into three streams in the area close to the Wiradjuri bridge.

By noon, the river was at 8.26m and gushing at one metre per second near the river bank, and nearly two metres per second in the middle of the waterway.

Having accurate water levels is integral when managing an emerging flood, the technicians said.

The Flowseeker is an innovation from Albury company Firetail Robotics.

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