TWELVE months ago this week, Dubbo found itself inundated with floodwater from the Macquarie River.
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Water levels reached a peak of 9.7m on Sunday, December 5, 2010 and Dubbo’s 40-year rainfall record was broken, with 70mm rainfall registered midweek.
The Burrendong Dam reached capacity levels of 150 per cent, and water releases of up to 40,000 megalitres per day added to the rising floodwaters. However, the State Water Corporation insisted the water release was necessary to make room for further inflows and to ease pressure on the dam walls.
Council estimated the cost of the damages from the floodwaters and cleanup operations would run to between $2.5 and $3million.
Dubbo CBD came to a commercial standstill over the weekend, although the area was still packed with onlookers fascinated by the sudden change in their city centre.
The shops on the riverside of Macquarie Street were quite badly affected, though the St itself was not flooded.
The carpark and escalators of Centro shopping centre were flooded, which also affected the basement storage areas for the outlets in the centre, including their supply stocks for Christmas.
The outlets themselves on the upper level remained dry, but fears of an electricity substation going underwater led to power being turned off during peak floodwaters.
Chris Muir, manager of the Centro Dubbo Shopping Centre, said the cost of damages to the centre ran to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although the centre was closed for only seven days, the repairs, including the remodelling of the whole toilets area, has only just been completed.
When asked if they had taken any steps to be better prepared in future, Mr Muir said: “We have a plan put in place, but you can’t do much being beside a river, though we would like more warning next time.”
It was a similar story with Riverdale Shopping Centre, where the basement carpark was also flooded, and once again the basement storage areas for the shops on the upper level were affected.
The Visitors’ Centre was completely inundated, although there was not much need for their services that week as not many tourists made it through the floodwaters to Dubbo. Likewise, the Macquarie Regional Library sustained some water damage to its stock, with staff urging members to keep any books out on loan until further notice and promising any late return fees would be waived.
On Thursday, December 2, flooding on the low-lying Serisier Bridge as well as on Bligh Street led to road diversions, which led to traffic chaos in the CBD. Southbound traffic from the Newell Highway, except for trucks, was diverted through town along Cobra and Fitzroy streets, and through the Erskine/Bourke Streets intersection. Motorists reported sitting in traffic jams on Cobra Street for up to half an hour.
Local traffic bound for West Dubbo had to rely on the LH Ford bridge to cross the Macquarie, resulting in a traffic bottleneck and frayed tempers.
Many businesses along the Newell Highway were badly affected, in particular the Old Ganarrin Garden Centre which was virtually wiped out.
However, one enterprising businessman took heed of the early warnings of potential flooding and used whatever he had available to him to protect his business.
Maas Contractor director Wes Maas built a dam around his workshop on the Newell Highway by using the excavators in stock on site. The moat-like barrier protected his business from the worst of the floodwaters.
Inevitably, life continued in the midst of the chaos. The organisers of the State Show Riding Championships announced their intention to continue with their inaugural competition at the Dubbo Showgrounds.
And although events were cancelled on Friday, December 3, the show did go on over the remainder of the weekend, with 225 of the 250 riders scheduled to compete able to participate in the end.
And, proving every cloud has a silver lining, the manager of Brennans Mitre 10, Michael Brennan, found himself with a monopoly in a niche area of trade - gum boots - when his competitors were either flooded out or understocked for the unexpected weather.