For the Narromine, Bogan and Walgett districts, a lot of money is needed to properly rebuild the roads affected by the floods from early this year.

Dubbo was not extensively affected this time around, and damage to local roads from summer rain was “unremarkable” according to Dubbo City Council.

“Council is still focused on completing the $2.1 million dollar restoration of roads from the December 2010 floods, which is around 90 per cent complete,” a spokesperson said.

Walgett Shire Council general manager Don Ramsland had the biggest flood damage bill, at an estimated cost of $20 million.

A devastating amount, he said it was an increase from 2010’s $3 million in damage.

“Everything was impacted, particularly the unsealed gravel roads, which have taken the longest to put back into operation,” he said.

Like the Bogan Shire, it was third time unlucky for Walgett residents, seeing 20,000 square metres of land flooded out which Mr Ramsland said was half the size of Tasmania.

“We want the road repairs to start as quickly as possible, roughly this side of Christmas ... we were fifth shire on the NDD (Natural Disaster Declaration) funding list because of the January floods.”

For the people of Narromine Shire, the council successfully obtained a NDD.

Director of engineering service Les Simons said they picked the ballpark figure of an estimated $450,000 to help them review the roads more carefully.

“The conditions weren’t as bad as the 2010 floods, but the important thing to remember is that the better engineered the roads are, the more resistant they become,” he said.

Narromine and Trangie residents, he said, lived in a flat area but could not live presuming that every road needed to be perfect, or that a road is safe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“The weather events always come into play because the roads are impassable, and different weather events cause different damage,” he said.

Bogan Shire Council work supervising engineer Alister Quamby said their initial damage estimate was $600,000, the damage being quite varied.