A flood watch was issued by the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) Macquarie Region late on Wednesday morning as Dubbo residents prepared for four days of rain.
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The heaviest rain is expected on Friday when there is a 95 per cent chance of up to 70 millimetres (mm) falling in the city.
Rain had already caused community disruption when the flood watch was issued at 11.28 am. Earlier in the day Narromine Agricultural Show Society officially cancelled Saturday’s 2016 show because the showground was “too wet and dangerous for activities”.
A year’s worth of rain may be recorded at Dubbo City Regional Airport by the end of the week.
At 9am on Wednesday the city had received a total of 529.8 mm for 2016. Average rainfall for Dubbo is 570.8 mm based on data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology since 1994.
The SES Macquarie Region advised on Wednesday that a “cold front preceded by a rain band” was moving through NSW.
It told of a low pressure trough developing across the western parts of the state on Thursday and deepening Friday before moving over the Tasman Sea during Saturday.
“In the wake of the trough another high pressure system is expected to move over south eastern Australia on Sunday,” the SES Macquarie Region reported.
“This weather system is expected to produce heavy rain over most of inland districts and has the potential to cause riverine flooding as well as local flash flooding in the following river valleys from Friday onwards.”
The valleys referred to were the Namoi, Castlereagh, Bogan and Macquarie “including the Bell River”.
The SES Macquarie Region is urging people living along rivers and streams to monitor weather forecasts and warnings and “be ready to move to higher ground”.
It is telling people not to drive, ride or walk through floodwaters.
The bureau’s seven-day forecast for Dubbo as of Wednesday morning reports of between 10 and 20 mm falling on Thursday, 40 to 70 mm on Friday and 8 to 15 mm on Saturday.
