SES says flooding is expected to continue in Bathurst, Central West

The city, along with the rest of the Central West region, received significant rainfall yesterday (Thursday, September 15) and overnight.

State Emergency Services (SES) Western Zone community capability officer David Rankine said volunteers have been incredibly busy in the last 24 to 36 hours, carrying out flood recue operations and ensuring flood-prone areas are protected as best as possible.

READ MORE: Wet weather closes Eleven Mile Drive, Hereford Street and Lagoon Road

"Our volunteers were quite busy at the Perthville community last night doing some door-knocking at potentially flood-prone properties and also dropping sand bags out to a few flood-prone properties," Mr Rankine said.

With significant rainfall expected to continue in the coming months, residents of Bathurst and the Central West need to remain vigilant when it comes to flood water.

During the last period of rainfall, SES volunteers have been called to eight flood rescue situations across the Central West, with seven a result of people attempting to drive through flood water and becoming stranded.

"From our perspective that's extraordinarily disappointing," Mr Rankine said.

Residents are also reminded to stay alert and monitor rising waterways during their travels.

Bathurst, Sofala and Blayney SES volunteers attended a flood rescue call on the Turon River at Turondale after a camper became stranded.

Mr Rankine said with the water rising quickly overnight the camper and their vehicle became stranded on the other side of the flood water, and as of 10am on Friday morning, the rescue had been ongoing for a few hours and was a complex situation.

The Coles Bridge at Turondale is now closed.

With more rainfall expected next week, residents are reminded to be sensible, careful and keep safe.

"The concern from our perspective is that we've got more weather expected from Tuesday next week," Mr Rankine said.

"So with the rivers pretty full and many of them in flood, and the soil obviously completely saturated, we can expect that not too much rain, probably as little as 25 millimetres of rain, may see some renewed flooding. Not only here in Bathurst but right across the Central West region."

The Hereford Street low level bridge and Eleven Mile Drive at Saltram Creek remain closed and the Macquarie River in Bathurst is set to peak later this morning at 3.5 metres.

MANY communities in the Central West were dealing with flood waters on Friday morning.

The Mitchell Highway is closed in both directions between Molong and Wellington. Due to the flooding at Neurea and Cundumbul, motorists are advised to delay their travel through the area as there is no suitable diversion at this time.

The Bell River at Molong peaked on Thursday night and business owners were joined by SES crews from Molong, Orange and Bathurst in preparation for flooding in the lower areas of the town, with persistent rain across Thursday and more predicted on the radar into Friday.

Minor flooding also continues along the Macquarie River at Warren, where river levels are expected to begin rising again over the weekend and may reach the moderate flood level on Sunday.

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