Flood peak higher than expected

By Kate Ramien  |  November 29, 2011

The Gunnedah shire is bracing itself for more possible flooding with between 25-55mm of rain expected to fall in the catchment this week.

It follows major flooding in the district over the weekend when the Namoi River at Gunnedah peaked at 7.95 metres on Monday morning – higher than expected because of extra water released from Keepit Dam.

The floodwaters inundated north Gunnedah, including Marquis, Maitland, Chandos and Bloomfield streets.

Residents in two houses evacuated in Little Conadilly and Chandos streets, after State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers doorknocked homes to warn them of impending flooding.

Another three properties have been completely isolated at Redbank, off the Oxley Highway, while another nine homes at Talibah Flat were cut off on Sunday night.

The Namoi catchment has been saturated, with around 125mm of rain falling in the past week.

Dozens of rural properties have been affected, including waterlogged crops.

Around 20 SES volunteers have been working around the clock in Gunnedah for the past three days, responding to calls for help which included 15 flood rescues near Gunnedah and Boggabri where people were pulled from either flooded causeways or closed roads.

Crews also carried out a food drop to an isolated property north of Gunnedah yesterday.

“We’ve also had crews monitoring road closures, floodwater, peak heights via phone systems and electronic monitoring, as well as doorknocking,” Namoi SES controller Cath Cain said.

“Our crews have worked tirelessly to protect the community of Gunnedah and put their lives at risk for people who have driven through road closed signs.”

The floodwaters cut major roads into Gunnedah, including the Oxley Highway to Tamworth and Kamilaroi Highway between Gunnedah and Boggabri. Both roads were open with caution this morning. The Pig Hole at Cohen’s Bridge was also closed.

Dozens of other low-lying local roads have been affected, including those in the Kelvin, Bluevale, Wean and Orange Grove Road areas.

There has also been no vehicle access to the Gunnedah airport.

The predicted peak for the Namoi River at Gunnedah was 7.6 metres, however the increased releases from Keepit Dam and water in the Mooki River caused higher floodwaters than expected at 5am on Monday.

The dam released around 45,000 megalitres of water each day on Saturday and Sunday due to increased inflows from further upstream, reducing it to 25,000 megalitres on Monday when the dam was sitting at 103 per cent of capacity.

State Water said it held as much back as possible until the Peel River peak had passed to reduce flooding at Gunnedah.

The flood peak reached Boggabri this morning at 7.7 metres. It is expected to peak at the minor flood level of 5.5 metres in Narrabri on Wednesday morning, and at seven metres at Wee Waa that night, bringing major flooding.

More rain is predicted on late Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts of between 25-55mm.

“If we receive that in certain areas in the catchment, we might see some renewed flooding late in the week because we expect the river to remain full because of the releases from Keepit,” Ms Cain said.

“Because those areas are completely saturated, any rain will go straight into run-off.”