SES warns on Macleay floods - The Macleay Argus

Just a year ago, the Macleay was enjoying the lull between two of the biggest rain events of recent times – tropical cyclone Oswald, which swept down from the north in the closing days of January, and an un-named but equally ex-treme weather system less than four weeks later hosed the area with hundreds of millimetres of rain.

Evacuations, road closures and emergency call-outs were making the news up and down the Valley, with the Macleay River peaking at 7.1m at the Kempsey traffic bridge – which was still well below the 1949 record of 8.42m.

Twelve months on, things couldn’t be more different, with Kempsey  currently in near-drought, despite the respite of the past few days rainfall, and the shire council last week announcing water restrictions.

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