Flooding creates 30 NSW disaster zones

NSW remains in the grip of flooding with 30 areas now declared natural disaster
zones after Queanbeyan, southeast of Canberra, was hit by a deluge.
While the flooding at Queanbeyan was swift and somewhat unexpected, weary emergency
crews in Wagga Wagga, further west, are continuing their vigil in the regional city.
The Murrumbidgee River is expected to peak at 9.7m sometime on Friday, potentially
putting even more of North Wagga under water.
The sodden town was pelted by 67.4mm of rain on Thursday, with reports of localised
flash flooding and the evacuation of another six homes.
But authorities remain cautious as the Murrumbidgee is set to swell again because of
bigger deluges at the river's headwaters, threatening more flooding in the town's
north.
"We're still waiting on an estimation of waters upstream," SES region controller
James McTavish told reporters in Wagga Wagga on Thursday.
"But there's certainly a possibility that we'll see an exacerbation of current
flooding conditions."
Aerial scans of the nearby towns of Tarcutta and Tumut showed the impact of massive
deluges overnight, with farms and homes inundated and the Hume Highway cut near
Tarcutta Creek.
Flooding in Tarcutta, Tumut and Adelong is expected to rise, sending more water down
the Murrumbidgee.
Further east, the Queanbeyan River, near Canberra, rose three metres in less than
three hours after heavy overnight rain, cutting the NSW city in half about midday
when the river peaked at 8.4m.
Queanbeyan was declared a natural disaster area, taking the total number of declared
areas across NSW to 30.
About 100 houses and businesses were evacuated and 10 people were rescued by boat.
"The flood peak, we think, has already occurred on the river," NSW Emergency
Services minister Steve Whan told reporters in Queanbeyan.
Residents had little warning of the flood because the river rose extraordinarily fast.
Water gushed from the nearby Googong Reservoir which was already full before it
received 103mm in the 22 hours to 7am on Thursday.
ACTEW Corporation said the newly upgraded spillway, completed just weeks ago, was
safely handling the passage of 10,500 cubic metres of water per second, about four
times the normal flow over Niagara Falls.
The weather bureau is predicting the rain band that wreaked havoc in Queanbeyan will
move north.
Authorities fear it will pose problems for areas such as Coonamble in north-western
NSW.
The deluge that hit Queanbeyan and the nearby hills will boost the volume of water
flowing into the already swollen Murrumbidgee system.
That will add, over the coming days, to the woes being experienced in Wagga Wagga
and further downstream.
Mr Kear said the flood was the worst to hit Queanbeyan since the 1970s.
It was a "one-in-20-year event", he said.
The SES has issued flood watches for the Macquarie and Lachlan Valley areas.
It said minor to moderate flooding could develop at Bathurst on Thursday night, and
flash flooding could happen in Molong and Orange.
Minor to moderate flooding was expected on the Lachlan River downstream of Cowra,
and flood warnings were current for all western-flowing NSW rivers from the Namoi in
the north to the Murray in the south late on Thursday afternoon.