The Bellinger and Orara floods
Last Update: Monday, January 7, 2008. 11:09am AEDT
By Fiona Poole
Heavy rain has fallen in the Bellinger River catchment on the New South Wales mid-north coast over the weekend. Minor to moderate flooding occurred in the Bellinger and the Orara Rivers and residents in the Thora Valley were left isolated as low lying bridges became submerged.
Darcy Browning has lived in the area for over forty two years. His property is 172 acres and the Bellinger River meanders right through the middle of it.
?Where we live we are marooned, we have a bridge on either side. I?m a bit agitated but its no problem for my wife, she just keeps going with the quilting.?
At Glennifer where the rain is known to tumble resident Alex Mann recorded nine inches on Friday and by Saturday morning they had received another two and a half inches.
?The bridges around Loop Road are out, and the little creek is absolutely pumping. The ducks are looking very happy, but the horses are looking miserable.?
The flooding also inconvenienced residents of North Bellingen with the closing of Lavenders Bridge effectivley cutting them off from town. The bridge was closed late Friday evening and reopened early Saturday morning. After 9 am on Saturday the Bellingen Shire Council chose to close Lavenders Bridge once again as the flood waters threatened pedestrian safety.
The Lavenders Bridge was reopened on Sunday morning, while the Thora Valley remained cut off at Hobart?s Bridge until late Sunday evening.
By Monday morning the Bellinger River at Thora was reading 3.1 meters and residents were no longer isolated.
On the other side of the Coffs Coast the Orara River catchment also received an abundance of rain and minor flooding occurred around Glenreagh and down stream to Coutts Crossing.
Chrissie Frances who works at the Karangi General Store spent Saturday morning serving customers who where stranded in their homes and had to brave the flood for supplies.
?We had some fit young people come in wearing only shorts and bare chests. They paddled over in a canoe and bought bread and milk and had their stuff put in plastic bags because they had to paddle back.?
Both the Bellinger and the Orara rivers are known to rise and fall quickly, and residents have once again proven that they are used to its extremes.
Over the weekend the SES had no reports of property damage or personal injury and most of the calls they received where traffic inquiries about road closures.
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