It seems to have been raining for weeks. The drought in New South Wales is well and truly over. According to the media, the state has 75% of its area either in flood or is flood affected, which is about the size of France. When we moved into this area, floods were more frequent and watching water levels at North Richmond bridge became quite a social event. Some years the bridge closed two or three times. When floods were imminent, phone calls would be made and I would leave work and hope to get across the bridge before it went under. On one occassion I reached the bridge just as the police were about to close it but as I was so close to home they allowed me over, following a grader with his big blade down to break the water as it flowed across the road way. In June 1974, I arrived back in Sydney to find the North Richmond bridge still closed so had to drive all the way round via Mount Victoria. A detour didn’t seem to matter having driven to Northern Queensland and back. The bridge opened the following day. We had been a little concerned about what would happen if the baby (James) came early, while I was away and the river was flooded. We were assured, no problems, the flood rescue boat would take Di across the river to a waiting ambulance.
A few years ago we were in drought conditions and were put on water restrictions as the storage capacity of Warragamba Dam, Sydneys water supply, was down to 32%. As I write this the capacity is at 98% and the forecast is that the dam will spill over some time tonight.
TV stations are here making news clips for later.
The level still has a long way to go before the bridge closes but at this stage it does rise very quickly.
Someone has been keeping records.
Its hard to imagine but we have seen the water about 7 metres above the road level.
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