Community support praised by local SES unit during major flood event

The support of the wider community has been praised by the Narrabri SES Unit following last week’s major flood event.

The Narrabri Creek peaked at 7.67 metres last Tuesday afternoon, above earlier predictions.

Major flooding was experienced along the Namoi catchment.

Increased river and creek levels followed a heavy rainfall event the previous week, on October 20 and 21, which saw 94mm fall across two days in Narrabri.

Surrounding areas, including Bellata and Edgeroi, experienced significantly higher rainfall.

Speaking with The Courier following the flood, Narrabri SES controller Tony Battam praised the public’s general compliance with directions from emergency services.

“The response was similar to the flood in November last year,” he said.

“Because we had a flood reasonably close in size to a recent flood, the community knew what to expect. People didn’t panic.”

In Narrabri, 15 homes and businesses experienced over-the-floor flooding.

While these properties were scattered around town, the most impacted were along Wee Waa Road, at the bottom of Nandewar Street and around the Peele Street area.

In addition to Narrabri, two properties in Edgeroi and one each in Baan Baa and Pilliga experienced over-the-floor flooding.

As of Monday, there were still difficulties reaching Pilliga, emergency services reported.

After another period of isolation, road access to Wee Waa returned at the start of the week.

In total, the SES conducted 97 damage assessments, and 23 properties had reported damage, including those without home damage but which sustained other damage to parts of property.

The SES has particularly praised the community’s support for emergency services during the natural disaster.

“We had hot meals and food coming in every day,” Mr Battam said.

“It was really reassuring to see that support from the community.”

Last week’s flood also saw emergency services implement a new warning system which came into place at the start of the month.

The warning system ensures people receive the same message from all agencies.

“When evacuation orders were issued, some people could not understand what was going on, but it was widely well accepted.”

Following the flood event, the SES has again reiterated its constant warning ‘if it’s flooded, forget it’.

During last week’s flooding event, up to 14 flood rescues were carried out.