For the first time in six days the water level was starting to fall in Tuggerah Lake on Tuesday, March 23.
The lake peaked at 1.50m at about 10pm on Sunday, March 21, and the level was holding steady until Tuesday at 9.30am, when the measurement taken at Long Jetty was down to 1.21m.
It was not likely to subside to below the minor flood level of 0.9m until at least Wednesday, March 24.
The peak level in this flood (1.52m) was higher than the April 2015 flood, when levels reached 1.45m, but less than the February 2020 flood at 1.67m.
Day after day since the deluge began on Thursday, March 18, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued severe weather warnings, and with the wind picking up on Tuesday, gusting to about 55km/h, residents were on alert for debris floating downstream and around the lake floodwaters as well as fallen trees.
There had been nine landslips at various locations and residents were warned about falling trees which had become unstable because of the saturated ground.
There was a long list of road closures which occurred almost immediately after the heavy rain started and many are still closed.
Some schools were closed as well as the Ourimbah university campus.
Trainlines were impacted and replacement buses were in place for a range of routes.
By the end of the weekend, , 340mm of rain had fallen in the previous four days across the Coast and NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, declared a state of natural disaster on Sunday, March 21.
The Entrance Channel has remained open during this event, however, on Friday, March 19, Central Coast Council took precautionary action and excavators removed a small amount of sand on the north side of the channel to allow a more direct out-flow of flood waters.
By Tuesday, the channel entrance was 120m wide and floodwaters were gushing out to sea.
Wyong SES Unit Commander, Matt le Clercq, said the unit had been run off its feet in the past six days.
“Flood rescues have been somewhere in the mid 30s, that’s cars in water, animal rescues, resupply and medical evacuations,” he said.
“We’ve been really busy with about 680 jobs – all types such as flooding, roof damage, flood rescues.”
He said the flooding was widespread around the lakes and the valley communities of Yarramalong, Dooralong and Jilliby being hit hard from the rising rivers and creeks.
“The first couple of days we were busy with flood rescues and in the past two days we have been doing welfare checks around isolated properties such as South Tacoma, Chittaway Bay and up in the valleys,” le Clercq said.
Council has had a job on its hands with widespread road damage, the wet weather pond at Wyong South treatment plant had been impacted by the rainfall, portable toilets were taken to South Tacoma for residents having sewerage problems, and Mooney Mooney Dam was spilling over.
The dam is now at 98 percent capacity and Mangrove Creek Dam is 66 percent full, Mardi Dam 72 percent.
“There’s been a real community spirit throughout this flood event, the community support, the work of the volunteer agencies such as the Rural Fire Service and the Volunteer Rescue Association, all working together to support the community,” said Wyong SES Unit Commander, Matt le Clercq.
“The support for the SES has been fantastic and we’ve had a lot of spontaneous support, too, just dropping into the shed to lend a hand, especially with sandbagging, which has freed up our members to go out and be there for the community.”
Sue Murray