Floods break drought in Australia's parched inland - Summary
Sydney - The formerly drought-stricken south-east Australian town of Coonamble was spared calamitous flooding Monday when its levees held up against the swollen Castlereagh River. What was once a trickle was now rushing through the far-north New South Wales farming town at a height of 5 metres, peaking just below the flood level.
Its 1,200 residents evacuated to emergency shelters were expected to return to their homes soon.
Some of the biggest rainstorms in more than 100 years have been recorded, turning the floodplain of the Castlereagh and other rivers into veritable inland seas that could see some properties cut off for weeks.
Tens of thousands of sheep and cattle have been lost in the floods, but farmers said the stock losses were counterbalanced by reservoirs filled up with enough water for crops to last two seasons at least.
Helicopters and planes were dropping supplies to 300 homesteads marooned by the floodwaters. Hay was being dropped to the cattle and sheep that managed to get to high ground.
Coonamble, which has lost population over the 10-year drought, has received 263 millimetres of rain since Christmas Day.
State Emergency Services spokeswoman Erin Pogmore said with Coonamble, Brewarrina and Narrabri cut off by the floods, the biggest concern for farmers was getting feed to stranded animals.
"It's really tough out here for the property owners at the moment watching what's happening to their livestock, so we are getting volunteers in on the ground, working with them to remove the sheep from bogged areas and moved to higher ground," she said.
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