Body found as floods threaten inland NSW
A body located by police divers in the NSW Southern Tablelands is believed to be that of one of two men flung from the tray of a utility swept away in floodwaters.
An aerial view of the Hume Dam spilling with 12 gates open in Lake Hume Village, NSW. Photo: AAP/Simon Dallinger
The pair were declared missing late Monday night, when an attempt was made to drive the ute across a spilling causeway at Bevendale. Two men riding in the cab managed to escape and swim to safety.
The body was recovered about 2pm on Thursday by divers involved in the search and the effort to find the second missing man continues.
Thousands of residents have meanwhile been ordered to leave homes as bursting inland rivers continue to swell and communities brace for inundation.
More than 100 emergency warnings are active across NSW in total, 22 of them for evacuation.
The central western wheatbelt town of Forbes is Friday’s main place of concern. About 1000 people there have been told to leave for higher ground.
With the overflowing Lachlan River threatening to cut off properties and strand residents, emergency accommodation has been set up at a local school.
Local cattle farmer Charles Laverty spent Thursday sandbagging his property on the outskirts of the town, with about a third of his paddocks already underwater.
Continued flooding has hit the area and other farming communities hard, as they struggle to recover from repeated bouts of destruction to crops and livestock losses.
“A lot of (my neighbours) have given up on harvesting those areas, which is very expensive,” Laverty said.
“The losses are going to be devastating for them.”
Record flooding is forecast with the Lachlan today expected to peak at 10.8 metres.
NSW SES Zone Commander Ben Pickup says peaks will likely continue through to Saturday.
“I really encourage the community of Forbes – please listen to the warning information,” he said on Thursday.
Major flooding on the Lachlan River is also causing inundation in the town of Nanami, and further downstream at Condobolin, with the river not expected to fall for weeks.
The Murrumbidgee River has also burst its banks, with major floods peaking overnight and evacuation orders in place for the major regional centre of Wagga Wagga.
Upstream at Gundagai, river levels are currently higher than for those recorded in floods in 1989.
Moderate flooding continues further on at Narrandera, with major inundation possible early next week and it’s a similar scenario for nearby Darlington Point.
