A ‘Tidal Wave’ of Rising Flood Water Has Forced Evacuations in Central NSW

After flash flooding tore through parts of central New South Wales during the early hours of this week, those hit hardest by the devastating rainfall have been left with dangerously low levels of food. For others, the worst may be yet to come. 

Hundreds of residents of the town of Forbes, about two hours south west of Orange in Central West NSW, received evacuation orders early on Tuesday, after it became clear to emergency services that the nearby Lachlan River was expected to surge to a record height that afternoon. The move triggered one of the largest flood responses in the state’s history.

On Tuesday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology said the Lachlan River was expected to topple its major flood level of 10.55 metres, and could even surpass record levels of 10.8 metres, unseen since catastrophic flood waters tore through the region in 1952.

If the worst fears of emergency services are realised, up to 600 homes and businesses across Forbes could be savaged by a torrent of flood water overnight into Wednesday, for the second time in as many weeks.

At a press conference on Tuesday morning, NSW premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters that responders had already received more than 900 calls for help over the last 24 hours, and conducted 222 flood rescues. 

“There’s obviously concerns for our communities in Eugowra and Forbes, particularly Forbes this morning, where evacuation orders are in place. Those evacuation orders affect properties impacting hundreds of people. I say to the community in Forbes, we will be with you every step of the way,” Perrottet said.  

“We were only there two weeks ago. They have gone through flood event after flood event after flood event.”

In the town of Eugowra, one resident told The Sydney Morning Herald that flood waters picked her house up off of its concrete foundations, and washed it away with her still inside of it. Her daughter-in-law said it’s lucky she made it out alive.

“It’s almost like a tidal wave hit town,” another resident said. “It’s being described as a warzone. There’s so much destruction—homes have just been washed away.”

Matters are only further complicated by the opening of the Wyangala Dam earlier on Tuesday, which sits close to the intersection of the Lachlan and Abercrombie rivers, upstream of the riverside towns of Forbes and Cowra, not far from Eugowra, where flood waters have already destroyed countless homes and infrastructure. 

State authorities expect the dam to spill about 230,000 megalitres of water out into the river, possibly into the paths of nearby communities, every day until water levels are back under control. For weeks now, record rainfall has smothered the region.

The vast amount of water spilling out from the Wyangala dam, which could fill Sydney harbour several times over, has triggered major concern for state authorities and people living in low lying areas across the region.

As a result, local authorities have called in for help from both the Australian Defence Force, and emergency responders from New Zealand, who will help the NSW State Emergency Service respond to calls for help and conduct rescue operations for the first time in the agency’s history.

Forbes mayor, Phyllis Miller, told ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday morning that the whole town is in a state of disbelief, as residents are forced to evacuate yet again, just as they had begun to recover from destructive flash flooding only two weeks earlier. 

“I think they can’t believe that this could happen twice in such a short period of time. But they’re resilient, they’re working, everyone got in yesterday. We need lots of sandbags, and everyone was working really hard yesterday, trying to get those sandbags done,” Miller said.

“It’s been a pretty tough 24 hours for us. This is really heartbreaking. Our farming community and businesses are suffering terribly.”

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