Parts of Wagga’s Riverside precinct underwater on Monday morning. Photo: Chris Roe.
Wagga awakened to a foggy Monday morning, but with the flood threat eased and the river remaining in the minor flooding range, reaching 8 metres at 8:20 am and rising to 8.53 metres by 6 pm.
Following a community meeting on Monday evening, residents were advised that the expected peak of 9 metres would arrive later than expected and that the evacuation order would remain in place on Tuesday
The evacuation order was not issued for the whole of North Wagga, instead around 120 residents living along low-lying streets and properties on the north and to the western side of the city were advised to leave by 6 pm on Sunday.
The SES listed eight areas of concern including Edward Street West, Flowerdale Road, Roach Road, McNickle Road, Lower Gardiner Street, Wilks Park, Eunony Bridge Road and Mills Street.
As a precaution, an evacuation centre was opened at Kyeamba Hall at the showground.
Most residents chose to stay in place and kept a close eye on the water levels.
While some properties have become isolated, none have been inundated so far.
Parts of Wilks Park are now submerged and only a small number of the homeless community have chosen to remain in place on the higher ground near Wiradjuri bridge.
Abandoned tents at Wilks Park. Photo: Chris Roe.
The park was cleared of travellers and the entrance was sealed, with the waterlogged tents belonging to the small community of rough sleepers abandoned.
At the new riverside playpark, the water reached the equipment on Monday morning and has steadily turned the play area into an island and engulfed the precinct.
SES Southern Zone deputy commander Barry Griffith told the ABC that the threat had eased, however measures would remain in place.
“We’re going to continue our public information messaging and we’re still maintaining our community information presentation tonight,” he said.
“We are going to keep a close eye on the river today until it drops away, just to try to keep people as calm as possible and reassured that, if the situation changes, we’ll be letting them know straight away.”
Joshua Hunt from Wagga SES said they were well resourced and local units had been in close communication with those at risk.
“A big part of what we’ve been doing recently is speaking to the people who are going to be affected by this, going out and doing door knocks, making sure they’re kept in the loop,” he said.
“As well as the normal units and equipment that we have around, we’ve also got two Unimogs [Mercedes-Benz extreme off-road vehicles] and some flood rescue teams that are on standby.”
Upstream, Gundagai escaped any serious consequences despite a major flooding peak of 9.02 metres on Saturday afternoon.
There were no evacuations and no houses were flooded before the river began dropping towards a moderate flood level of 7.6 metres on Sunday and the prediction of a minor flood level of 6.1 metres until late on Tuesday.
For the latest information from the SES, follow them on Facebook or on their website.
For the latest weather, warnings, rainfall and river heights go to the BOM website.
For the latest road closures go to the Live Traffic website or call 132 701.
For emergency help in floods and storms, call the NSW State Emergency Service on 132 500.
In life-threatening situations, call triple zero (000) immediately.
BOM data shows the flood levels rising above “minor”. Image: BOM.
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