Local road closures due to floodwaters
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- Sunnyside Loop Rd at causeway near Four Mile Creek Rd
- Old Ballandean Rd over Tenterfield Creek causway
- Bluff River Rd at bridge
- Castlerag Road Bridge over Deepwater River
Crews have been dispatched to assist in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Debbie, while Tenterfield bunkers down for bad weather forecast to ravage the New England this week.
As Tenterfield Creek and other waterways rise and events get cancelled or postponed, the district is predicted to get up to 80mm more rain today, easing off tomorrow, after officially recording 17mm up to 9am this morning.
The rain’s falling on sodden ground with a total for the month so far of 101mm. This has a long way to go before beating the record, however, when 351.1mm was recorded way back in 1890.
Tropical Cyclone Debbie has left almost 50,000 people without power as wind gusts stronger than 260km/h and a deluge of torrential rain slaughtered hundreds of homes and buildings when the category four system crossed the coast of North Queensland on Tuesday.
NSW State Emergency Service (SES) Namoi Region Controller Andrew Galvin said specialist volunteers from Tamworth, Narrabri and Armidale, have been deployed to assist in the clean-up of Cyclone Debbie.
“We have specialist personnel trained in rapid damage assistance (dispatched to North Queensland),” Mr Galvin said.
“The idea is for them to gather as much intelligence as possible and report directly to Queensland (emergency crews) to direct resources.”
Cyclone Debbie was downgraded to a tropical low on Wednesday, but the remnants are set to be felt across the southern parts of Queensland and NSW as torrential rain, flash flooding and strong winds are forecast for New England and the North West.
The SES is urging local residents to heed these wild-weather warnings.
“There could be severe flash flooding so we’re urging people to exercise caution,” Mr Galvin said.
Local SES crews have pre-positioned specialist flood rescue technicians and called in a helicopter to prepare for the expected wild weather.
Essential Energy is also helping clean up after Cyclone Debbie by sending emergency electrical crews, plant and equipment to provide disaster recovery assistance to Ergon Energy in Queensland after widespread damage.
“About 150 employees from Essential Energy’s Northern and North Coast regions will travel to affected areas to assist Ergon crews to restore power to more than 60,000 customers impacted by the cyclone,” Essential Energy’s General Manager Network Services, Luke Jenner said.