Severe weather warnings issued as NSW braces for more heavy rain, possible flooding - ABC News

Northern and central New South Wales are bracing for another day of heavy rain that could cause major flooding in a number of towns.

Key points:

• The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for parts of the state
• The wet weather has come at a terrible time for farmers trying to harvest crops
• The state's dams are at risk of spilling with many close to full capacity

Up to 110 millimetres is forecast to fall at Moree, while Tamworth and Narrabri are expected to receive between 40 and 70ml.

The Central West is also in line for more rain, with West Wyalong expected to see up to 60 millimetres and Condobolin forecast to get between 25 and 45ml.

A flood watch remains in place for a number of catchments across the north and Central West.

"That type of rain normally causes flash flooding and that's where we see that real risk of people getting caught, particularly on roads," Colin Malone from the State Emergency Service said.

"We want people to make smart choices — at the end of the day it's about them coming home."

Moderate to major flooding is expected on the Upper Macintyre, Gwydir, Peel and Namoi rivers.

In the Central West, minor to major flooding is likely on the Lachlan River, near Forbes.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall for the north-west and parts of the Central West.(Supplied: BOM)

Harvest scramble

The rain has come at a bad time for farmers in the north-west trying to harvest broadacre crops.

Adrian Brown from Gravesend, between Warialda and Moree, said he had managed to reap some of his crop, but had to stop on Wednesday as the low pressure system moved in.

"We'll probably be pulled up for a while now," he said.

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Mr Brown said he was concerned the rainfall would impact grain quality and yields.

"Especially in the barley — a lot of it's already laying down," he said.

"We've got one crop that's nearly flat on the ground.

"We'll just have to sit and wait out today … maybe a bit of office work."

Dams could spill

Many of the state's dams, which were almost empty during the drought, are now at or near capacity.

Wyangala Dam near Cowra is sitting at 99.6 per cent.

Water NSW said it escalated releases in the days leading up to this rain event, but had now eased off so it did not exacerbate the flooding.

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Spokesman Tony Webber said outflows would resume after any flooding had peaked to create more storage space.

"It's very much depending on the extent of the flooding, but inevitably if we are above 100 per cent at the dam – and that seems to be likely – there will need to be some operation to reduce that storage to at least full supply level," he said.

In the north, Keepit Dam near Gunnedah is at 96 per cent capacity and the severe weather is expected to impact the storage.

Water NSW increased its releases from more than 2,000 megalitres a day to more than 20,000 this week.

"These releases are well below minor flood level," Mr Webber said.

"The intention is just to build some capacity in the storage to capture what we anticipate will be some fairly substantial inflows coming into that dam on the back of the bureau's forecast for some quite heavy rain."

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2021-11-10 20:29:15Z
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