
THE SES has concerns for residents with driveways that slope towards their home as the city braces for days of rain.
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State Emergency Service (SES) spokesman David Rankine said the forecast is for anywhere from 25 to 150 millimetres of rain to fall on Bathurst in the coming days, so it doesn't hurt for people to prepare for the worst.
"The concerns we've got in the local community here are driveways that slope back into properties and into garages that can flood," he said.
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"If people are concerned about that or it's happened in the past, it's a good opportunity to get a few sandbags and get ahead and get prepared."
Mr Rankine said the rain comes in heavy thunderstorm falls in this type of event, which has the potential to lead to flash flooding.
Residents can phone 132 500 to put in a request for sandbags.
Mr Rankine said worst-case scenario predictions from the Bureau of Meteorology have the Macquarie River in Bathurst peaking at four metres at around midnight on Monday, October 24.
If that prediction eventuates, that will see the Hereford Street bridge closed and likely flooding at Saltram Creek on Eleven Mile Drive and Coles Bridge at Turondale.
Mr Rankine said the worst of the rain is due to fall in the Gunnedah, Tamworth and Moree regions in the north of the state, but will tail out down through the Central West.
So the amount of rain Bathurst receives will depend on how far the front travels, but in the worst-case scenario, the region could receive a month's worth of rain in the next five days, he said.
"There's a prediction here of anywhere between 25 and 150mm, and there's a lot of difference, but we're just not sure how far south it's going to come," Mr Rankine said.
"The average rainfall for Bathurst in October is around 100mm. There's every chance we could see that in the next four or five days. We're hoping that doesn't happen, but we're preparing."
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