More floods in Australia

1500 evacuated in New South Wales floods

Stuff, 

1 March, 2012

More than 1500 people have been evacuated from their homes in New South Wales as floodwaters covering an area the size of France sweep across the Australian state.

The Warragamba Dam - currently at 93 per cent capacity - is expected to spill overnight for the first time in 14 years, with the weather bureau predicting increased rainfall in the catchment area into Friday.

Western Sydney looks set to escape with just moderate flooding, despite 75 per cent of NSW either under water or threatened by floodwaters as the state buckles under its heaviest rains since the 1920s.

In the southern NSW town of Cooma, emergency service workers were on standby on Thursday in case two of its creeks burst their banks.

About 900 people in homes and businesses in low-lying areas had already been evacuated since early on Thursday morning, State Emergency Service spokesman Phil Campbell told AAP.

Another 60 people had been evacuated in the central west town of Cowra, while 600 residents in the Southern Tablelands city of Goulburn left their homes as a rain-swollen river rose rapidly.

Major flooding was developing around Queanbeyan, with 400 people on standby for possible evacuation, Mr Campbell said.

He said an evacuation warning was in place around the Hawkesbury area, where large swathes of land were expected to be swamped by floodwaters when the Warragamba Dam spilled some time on Thursday night.

When the damn spills the water will flood into the already swollen Murrumbidgee, Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers.

Local residents have been advised to keep children home from school on Friday to avoid problems associated with what is likely to be moderate flooding in the Nepean Hawkesbury Valley.

SES Incident Controller for Western Sydney Keith Fitzgerald said it was highly likely this flooding would result in the closure of the bridges at Windsor and North Richmond.

"People should think seriously about keeping their children home from school and about changing their normal pattern of commuting," Mr Fitzgerald told reporters on Thursday.

He also warned residents against complacency, saying flood-threatened residents in western Sydney could put themselves and their families at risk if they failed to heed warnings.

"The main concern I have here in Sydney is complacency," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"Folk will continue to try to go about their day-to-day business and in doing so put their families and themselves at risk."

Since the rains began, the SES has carried out 13 flood rescues, including three on Thursday, one of which involved a family and their seven dogs near Coolamon

It looks as if Mother Nature is giving us a warning - but just maybe with a helping hand?

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HERE is a link to Australian Rain Technologies