Lachlan River flooding to last weeks
Ben Domensino,
Monday September 26, 2016 - 10:43 AEST
Major flooding will continue to affect central western New South Wales well into October, with another round of rain imminent.
Forbes residents waited patiently on Sunday night to see if floodwaters from the Lachlan River would inundate their evacuated homes. The river's peak of 10.67 metres was enough to cover parks and streets and enter some houses, according to reports.
Major flooding in the Lachlan River Catchment developed after a remarkably wet start to spring. Some areas have already seen two-to-four month's worth of rain so far this September.
Parkes has recorded 171mm of rain this month, making it their wettest September in at least 127 years. Forbes has had 108mm, its highest September total in 11 years and more than double their average for the month.
Unfortunately, two more systems moving across New South Wales over the next eight days will bring rain to the already overflowing Lachlan River.
The first and most significant system will be a low and cold front causing rain between Wednesday night and Friday. Another 10-20mm is likely in the catchment, although isolated totals could exceed 30mm. This rain could cause renewed river level rises in some areas.
Another round of showers and storms could be on the cards for the start of next week, some time between Sunday and Tuesday. This system is too far away to reliably predict rainfall amounts.
A flood warning issued at 7:19am today predicts the major flood peak at Forbes will move downstream to reach Jemalong tomorrow, Condobolin on Friday this week, Euabalong on Tuesday October 4th and Hillston around Thursday October 20th.
The latest flood warnings are available at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp
- Weatherzone
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2016