Australia Weather News

Historic flooding has cut off communities in western NSW, with the Paroo River surpassing its 1990 record.

The river reached 5.13 metres at Wanaaring at 8am on Tuesday, overtaking the previous record of 4.88 metres.

It is predicted to peak at 5.3 metres on Tuesday afternoon. 

Slow-moving floodwater heading south from Queensland is expected to keep the remote community of Wanaaring isolated for six to 10 weeks. 

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) said there were at least 47 residents in Wanaaring and about 350 people along the Paroo River system facing isolation.  

A "prepare to evacuate" warning was in place for Wanaaring and surrounds but residents could not leave by road if they needed to get out. 

Homes impacted

NSW SES Western Zone deputy incident controller Anabelle Watson said some homes outside the Wanaaring levee zone had already been impacted by floodwater.

"We're working with the community and the Bourke Shire Council to monitor that levee and we'll just continue to do that throughout this entire event," she said.

She said volunteers and equipment had been deployed to support communities, including crews based in Wanaaring in case of a need to evacuate by air. 

"We have aviation assets positioned in Bourke and Walgett, high clearance vehicles at Bourke and Wanaaring and additional vessels and general purpose vehicles to make sure we can respond to communities in a timely manner," Ms Watson said.

"We're working closely with teams on the ground to make sure we do as much work to preserve as much property and assets as we can."

She said floodwater would linger for weeks, moving slowly over the flat flood plains before draining back into waterways as they flowed south into the Darling River system and eventually the Menindee Lakes.

Levee tested

Bourke Shire general manager Leonie Brown said the council built a six-metre levee at Wanaaring to help the community prepare for flooding but the situation remained unpredictable. 

"We just have to wait and see and hope our emergency levee that's been put in it survives the test of time," Ms Brown said. 

"But there's a lot of water out there, there's a lot of properties that have been inundated, there's a lot of homes where property owners haven't been there, and the houses are vacant and they are finding that their homes have been lost."

Ms Brown said the council would work with emergency services and had prepared for an evacuation centre in Bourke if needed. 

She urged people to not drive through floodwater. 

"We just don't know what happens to the roads under those floodwaters and it's just far too dangerous for themselves and the emergency services that need to come in to recover people," she said. 

The SES said personnel were available to support people with the resupply of essential food, water and medical supplies to prevent people going near floodwater.

Moderate flooding has also occurred on the Warrego River at Barringun with flows expected to move downstream.

They were forecast to peak about Friday.

Meanwhile, moderate flooding continued along the Namoi River in north-west NSW at Bugilbone, where river levels were slowly receding. 

The Barwon River at Mungindi was above the minor flood level, with further rises possible.

Resupply missions have been undertaken for communities isolated around Mungindi, Weemelah, Gwabegar and Wee Waa.