NSW:Wagga survives drenching

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2010
NSW:Wagga survives drenching

WAGGA WAGGA, NSW Dec 9 AAP - Residents in the flood-deluged NSW town of Wagga Wagga
can breathe a sigh of relief after surviving the latest deluge of rain.

Some 67.4mm fell overnight - well down on the maximum 150mm expected - but this still
managed to cause flash flooding and bring down trees across town.

Families from six homes in the north-west of Wagga were evacuated early on Thursday,
adding to the hundreds that were ordered out over the weekend.

"There was a bit of rainfall in town," SES spokeswoman Sam Colwell told AAP.

"We have had some early morning evacuations in Vestey Street and Campbell Street of
six homes and yes, some homes have been inundated.

"There's quite a bit of water lying around."

But despite the bucketing, the Murrumbidgee River also continues to fall, easing concerns
about whether the town's levee would hold or overflow.

There were more pressing concerns at nearby Tarcutta, where 25 residents were evacuated
amid a big bucketing that saw the river rise from one to five metres in just hours.

Official rainfall readings are expected later on Thursday.

For Wagga, local Bureau of Meteorology technical officer John Darnley said residents
were through the worst of it.

"We have had our big dump," he told AAP.

"It'll be cloudy and there'll be some light showers around but it won't amount to much."

But Wagga isn't completely out of the woods yet and authorities are keeping an eye
on the river over the coming days.

There was 94mm of rain upstream at the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee, which could
create flow-on effects at Wagga in about a week's time, Mr Darnley said.

AAP cj/dep

KEYWORD: FLOODS NSW WAGGA

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