Droughts & Flooding Rains
We live on a flood plain. It is a known fact that it floods here. That's why they built a levee bank around the town in the 1970's. Before that when it flooded everyone just lifted their furniture, parked their cars out of town, lived in the water & dealt with the clean up as the water receded.
I've been here 16 years & have lost count of the number of floods there have been in that time. There was a drought when I first came. The most memorable year for floods was 1998. That's when it flooded on & off for quite a few months. The river would come up, we'd be isolated for a week then it'd rain again just in time for the roads to open. It went on for months.
So now we're back into the cycle of weather that means floods. Lots of rain last week, so a flood was inevitable. The height was dependant on the amount of rain around here + the amount of water coming down the river from upstream.
There are 4 main roads in & out of our town. The main 'highway' comes from Narrabri, crosses the river about 7 km away, goes through town, over the river on the other side of town & continues to Burren Junction. As that side is also known as the Burren Road, that's 2 of the roads. Another road goes out through what's called Vera's Leap & on to Pilliga. The Pilliga Rd has been basically closed since last Tuesday because of the local water flowing through the creek. The Vera's leap part of the road is also full of water, but there are other ways around that. The last road goes over the Lagoon & is 'the back way' to Narrabri, either going around near Yarrie Lake, or straight along Culgoora Rd (depending if you want to drive on dirt or tar). If you know your way, there are a few other ways of driving to Narrabri along the dirt roads that crisscross the area.
So what's that got to do with flooding?? Well quite a bit really. The water is measured in the river near the bridge that is on the highway from Narrabri. It is measured from the bottom of the river, so when it is minor flood, it is still within it's banks at just over 5 metres. When it starts breaking it's banks, the water has to go somewhere, so it starts filling up channels & floodways. This road gets cut at what's called Glencoe Channel, when the river level gets to about 5.5 metres. The water then flows into the Lagoon, then around under the other bridge that is the highway leading out of town.
Still with me?? Good. There is a point I promise.
We do get completely isolated, sometimes up to a week at a time. When we went for a drive last night, there was water over Glencoe Channel (it's since been closed). At the Lagoon, it was full, but not over the road at the other side of the bridge where the road gets cut. This is where when the water is deep enough the SES run a flood boat to get people in & out of town. On the Burren side of town yes there was a lot of water, but we drove out a bit & found one floodway with a small amount of water in it.
All this made what happened today completely unexpected. Those of us with mobiles registered with a Wee Waa address received the following message
Apparently the whole town misinterpreted the message. We were supposed to know that 'Prepare to evacuate now' actually meant 'if you want to leave town do it now before the town is isolated'. Hmm, sorry but I can completely understand why everyone reacted the way they did.
Not only that, when you go to the SES website, it tells you to go to family & friends outside Wee Waa & that evacuation shelters would be available in Narrabri. Hello! The main road is closed, there may be other roads, but the ones who would be likely to leave just in case are not likely to know those roads. Once the water does close the roads - how do they expect us to get to Narrabri? Why isn't there a point of evacuation in Wee Waa.
There was a later text message saying:
So now we all sound stupid for reacting to the first message. See head SES guys maybe if someone had told us that there was now this system of warnings in place then maybe we might night have assumed what we did about the first message. Maybe if someone had worded the original one differently there wouldn't be a problem.
I'm not against early warnings. Yes the river is at major flood level & there is more rain predicted. But word it in a way that people don't panic & don't used the emergency messages designed to get people out in a hurry. Or here's a thought - run it past the local SES guys first to see if it's what's really happening.
And keep the sirens for a REAL emergency.
I've been here 16 years & have lost count of the number of floods there have been in that time. There was a drought when I first came. The most memorable year for floods was 1998. That's when it flooded on & off for quite a few months. The river would come up, we'd be isolated for a week then it'd rain again just in time for the roads to open. It went on for months.
So now we're back into the cycle of weather that means floods. Lots of rain last week, so a flood was inevitable. The height was dependant on the amount of rain around here + the amount of water coming down the river from upstream.
There are 4 main roads in & out of our town. The main 'highway' comes from Narrabri, crosses the river about 7 km away, goes through town, over the river on the other side of town & continues to Burren Junction. As that side is also known as the Burren Road, that's 2 of the roads. Another road goes out through what's called Vera's Leap & on to Pilliga. The Pilliga Rd has been basically closed since last Tuesday because of the local water flowing through the creek. The Vera's leap part of the road is also full of water, but there are other ways around that. The last road goes over the Lagoon & is 'the back way' to Narrabri, either going around near Yarrie Lake, or straight along Culgoora Rd (depending if you want to drive on dirt or tar). If you know your way, there are a few other ways of driving to Narrabri along the dirt roads that crisscross the area.
So what's that got to do with flooding?? Well quite a bit really. The water is measured in the river near the bridge that is on the highway from Narrabri. It is measured from the bottom of the river, so when it is minor flood, it is still within it's banks at just over 5 metres. When it starts breaking it's banks, the water has to go somewhere, so it starts filling up channels & floodways. This road gets cut at what's called Glencoe Channel, when the river level gets to about 5.5 metres. The water then flows into the Lagoon, then around under the other bridge that is the highway leading out of town.
Still with me?? Good. There is a point I promise.
We do get completely isolated, sometimes up to a week at a time. When we went for a drive last night, there was water over Glencoe Channel (it's since been closed). At the Lagoon, it was full, but not over the road at the other side of the bridge where the road gets cut. This is where when the water is deep enough the SES run a flood boat to get people in & out of town. On the Burren side of town yes there was a lot of water, but we drove out a bit & found one floodway with a small amount of water in it.
All this made what happened today completely unexpected. Those of us with mobiles registered with a Wee Waa address received the following message
SES FLOOD EVACUATION WARNING: Residents within the Wee Waa levee. Prepare to evacuate now. Listen to radio.....etcIf that wasn't bad enough, when you answered a landline there was a siren recording & 'evacuate evacuate'. Tell me - would you assume that we were supposed to evacuate?? Well I know everyone who got that message at the High School was a bit alarmed at receiving the message. Keep in mind that most High School kids have mobiles - & they got it too! No one paniced too badly, but there were a few parents turn up to collect their kids. Eventually the principal was able to find out from the SES that we didn't have to evacuate.
Apparently the whole town misinterpreted the message. We were supposed to know that 'Prepare to evacuate now' actually meant 'if you want to leave town do it now before the town is isolated'. Hmm, sorry but I can completely understand why everyone reacted the way they did.
Not only that, when you go to the SES website, it tells you to go to family & friends outside Wee Waa & that evacuation shelters would be available in Narrabri. Hello! The main road is closed, there may be other roads, but the ones who would be likely to leave just in case are not likely to know those roads. Once the water does close the roads - how do they expect us to get to Narrabri? Why isn't there a point of evacuation in Wee Waa.
There was a later text message saying:
SES update to previous flood evacuation warning. No evacuation order has been issued for Wee Waa. Residents were advised to prepare only.
So now we all sound stupid for reacting to the first message. See head SES guys maybe if someone had told us that there was now this system of warnings in place then maybe we might night have assumed what we did about the first message. Maybe if someone had worded the original one differently there wouldn't be a problem.
I'm not against early warnings. Yes the river is at major flood level & there is more rain predicted. But word it in a way that people don't panic & don't used the emergency messages designed to get people out in a hurry. Or here's a thought - run it past the local SES guys first to see if it's what's really happening.
And keep the sirens for a REAL emergency.
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| Water over Glencoe Channel 6/12/10 |
Here here. Good post Jo. I think it was really poor grammar. Even "prepare now in case of an evacuation" would have been better. And the sirens were a disaster. Simon had quite a few calls from older members of our congregation who were confused and alarmed. A few people thought Keepit Dam must have burst it's banks or something like that.
ReplyDeleteAnother important thing to remember is that in a major flood, being IN Wee Waa is the safest place to be in the whole lower Namoi Valley! If the town levee/levy is topped, the village of Narrabri and all rural properties and homes around Wee Waa would already have been totally inundated. Be oh so thankful for the planning and work that made that old levee/levy back in the 70's!!
ReplyDelete