THE State Emergency Service (SES) has reassured that levee banks around Bathurst will hold after fears they could be overcome by flooding.
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At around 11.30am Monday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology put out an alert warning that levees could break following significant rainfall and flooding.
However, SES spokesperson David Rankine said that is not the case.
While the Macquarie River is expected to peak at seven metres, he said the bureau was misinformed about the risk to the levees and has since retracted its alert.
"Talking to council's engineers and also looking at the information from previous flooding, the seven-metre height is at no risk of overtopping any of the levees, even at their low points around town, so that's good news," Mr Rankine said.
"There was a few rumours going around on a few Facebook pages this morning that the levees are going to overtop and we'll all be ruined, but unfortunately there was a bit of misinformation coming out from the bureau this morning.
"They put a bulletin out that suggested that might be the case and that was based on incorrect information provided to them.
"We just really want to reassure the community that, whilst there's a lot of water around and it's probably the biggest flood we've seen in a fair few years, there's no risk of those levees overtopping at this point."
![A drone shot showing the extent of flooding in Bathurst. Picture by Ben Fry A drone shot showing the extent of flooding in Bathurst. Picture by Ben Fry](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/gfyFBZ2A3aREPWrpf4KzA3/e4070f8d-e672-4f98-b6dc-b8d0ca587bd6.jpeg/r0_0_1996_1121_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
In a Facebook post just after 1pm Monday, Bathurst Regional Council said that works are under way to close low points in the levee system on the Kelso side of the Macquarie River at Hereford Street, Church Lane and Stephens Lanes.
Work will also occur on Russell Street near Alpha Street in Bathurst.
"This work is being undertaken in anticipation of major flooding later this afternoon," council said.
"Access to these roads will be impacted while the works take place - and only residents will be provided with access once the work is completed."
Mayor Robert Taylor told the Western Advocate that these works are just as a precaution and council is confident the levees will do their job.
Residents are advised to remain alert with the amount of water around the region at the moment.
The advice from council and the emergency services is to not enter or drive through floodwaters under any circumstances.
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