Farmers in Narromine, Nyngan and Trangie describe living in flood situation

After 150 millimetres of rain in recent months, the farm was at least four inches deep in water on Thursday, October 6 when Scott Finemore shared a photo of himself while he went about storing furniture up on a loft in the shed.

That was his urgent task on Thursday as he braced for the forecast rain that would inundate his property if the predicated 100 millimetres of rain come through in the next week.

"It's vicious and damaging buildings. We've got sandbags," Mr Finemore said.

It's two kilometres from the Finemore's front door to the road to town and the tractor has ferried them around the property to the shed and to where they parked the four-wheelers if they needed to get out in an emergency.

On the western side of Trangie, farmer Peter Wilson's vast Yarraman property has received more than its fair share of rainfall, 497.5 millimetres in the past 12 months, and he hopes "I don't get much more for the rest of the year."

In the previous two weeks, his water gauge showed 37 millimetres, while it was 75 millimetres in August, and 99.5 millimetres last September.

"We haven't even got to harvest so goodness knows how the harvest will go and its looking like a problem on its own," said Mr Wilson, a third generation of the Wilsons who has farmed the Narromine property they've tilled since 1910.

They run mixed farming, with sheep, cattle, and grains, as well as his recent venture growing Safflower to produce seed and oil for pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies that buy them.

In the news: Sandbags on offer across region as water levels continue to rise

The family's farm had been through many devastating droughts, as well as flooding, just among the vagaries mother nature brings to farmers, Mr Wilson said.

In 1955, his grandfather Cornelius, and father Neil, managed the farm when it was bogged with 785 millimetres of rainfall in 1955 and 1,115 millimetres the following year.

"That was how widespread the flooding was here back then, and now having drought and too much. But the upside is we have grass growing," he said.

For Mr Wilson, he believes the local council and state government should assist their town with repairing the unsealed main access roads as well as back roads that farmers can utilise as routes for their products and for themselves.

"We need the back roads for a direct route to the silos, they've been neglected like the Temoin Lane. It was once very useful for carting to the silos," he said.

"Apart from the potholes, we have not much bitumen roads here, so all armers near Bogan, Dandaloo and Tyrie have been cut off."

Narromine Shire and Dubbo Regional councils have been declared natural disaster areas, along with Warren Shire, following heavy rainfalls last month.

In other news: Volunteers from around the state travelling to help flood-ravaged western area

Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders said the declaration was an important first step to support local communities by providing them access to the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, jointly funded by the NSW government and Commonwealth.

"This means assistance is available to vulnerable people whose homes or essential household items have been destroyed or damaged, and for business owners and primary producers who have suffered direct damage," Mr Saunders said.

Both Narromine and Dubbo councils are able to access funding to restore essential public assets including local roads damaged by the heavy rains, concessional interest rate loans for small business, primary producers and non-profit organisations, as well as freight subsidies.

"I am urging any local homeowner, business owner or primary producer that suffered direct damage to investigate what support might be available to them," Mr Saunders added.

Mr Wilson said his property "might be able to scrape through" if the crops they have sowed won't be damaged further.

"When your moving stocks, you just have to find the motorbikes or horses. Forget the ground it's all soggy, machineries are on a standstill," he said.

Claremont's 8,000 hectares of canola and barley on Tullamore Road in Nyngan will hopefully escape the wrath of rain, says Richard Bootle.

Parts of Nyngan "fared well" while their neighbouring farms are flooded but Mr Bottle, whose property is situated along eight kilometres of the Macquarie River, had been built with a levee and aquaduct that pump water out.

The levee runs along the property's border to the river, and has recently upgraded its height anticipating the river level to rise from La Nina rainfall.

"We've had an amazing year and if this rain won't damage them, we will have fantastic crops, and I hope we are wrong [to think] we might not be able to harvest," Mr Bottle said.

"My grandfather used to listen to the birds at lunchtime to know if the frogs are croaking then he'll know whether it rains or not."

Mr Bootle said he took steps ahead of the forecast rains and had moved 1000 heads of Herefords, Red Wagyu and Bogan Reds, a cross breed of Red Wagyu and Hereford, on safe grounds.

"We have 4,000 acres of grassland underwater at the moment. Last week, we have moved our livestock out of the paddocks near the river," he said.

On the other side of the Macquarie River, farmer Steve Roach was concerned about his cattle, his fellow farmers helped to get them out on the safer ground on Thursday before more rains come and the farm becomes isolated.

For more details, go to: https://www.nsw.gov.au/disaster-recovery/natural-disaster-declarations and www.service.nsw.gov.au/floods.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: