WE already knew the 2022 flood will be the new 100-year flood level in the Edward River at Moulamein.
I think we got to 6.235 metres – the old record was 6.094m. The official reading will come out later.
The Edward was dropping very slowly for the past few days, but at the time of writing, the Edward had jumped about 15mm in a few hours.
Let’s hope this is a temporary thing and it will start to drop again.
We are still above 1956 levels and the Billabong will not slow down for a couple of weeks yet.
We still have the water that was diverted around town about a month ago looking for somewhere to go.
It has filled three dry lakes on three different properties which could be 6000 or 7000 megalitres, or more, that found a home.
But, now it has to go somewhere else before it finds its way back into the Edward downstream from Moulamein.
I was talking to my neighbour today and I asked him if he was having trouble with the lost water. “Plenty of trouble,” he said.
It is going places where he did not think it could get to.
This lost water will keep flowing and building in height for at least the rest of the year before it eases up much. Some is getting back to the Edward over the Balranald Road.
But, I have always said that there is more water flowing out the back of my place than is coming over the road. It just did not seem like enough.
Nick did ask me over a month ago how come I was not flooding him out.
I said at the time that I did not know how the water got through my place to his.
We have both been on a very steep leaning curve since then and now we can pass our knowledge onto the next generation.
Or just one freak thunderstorm or an early break next year up in our catchments and we will be back in the same situation and we will use our new-found knowledge before we get much older.
We are not out of the woods just yet. The weirs are still full and anything can happen. Mother Nature has not got a memory. Just because it has been wet, does not mean it will be dry next year.
Close call
I WAS talking to a mate the other night and he was very concerned about the Murga Bridge.
The water was flowing over it and the road had been washed away from in front of the bridge.
“Someone could die,” he said. Then he said something like, “Whoops, hang on, I will call you back.”
I didn’t know whether to call someone, go for a drive, or wait.
Luckily, he called me back a few minutes later.
The road had collapsed under him and he had to grab the rail to keep himself from falling into the flooded creek.
I commented that it was a good thing it was a young fit fellow like him, not an old, fat fellow like me.
“She right,” he said and went on with business of getting the bridge closed off after dark so no one else was in danger.
Someone could have died that night if he had not noticed it.
Watch your dogs
I DECIDED to spray the house for mosquitoes the other day.
They were not as bad at the house as they were up the paddock, but they were building.
I finished the house and decided to give the dog kennels and surrounds a bit of protection.
There were more mozzies in each of the kennels than around the whole house.
No wonder they were barking during the night. The pore buggers were getting eaten alive.
I bought some stuff called Zeus from Swan Hill Stockfeeds.
It killed the spiders, hornets, mozzies and seems to keep everything else away as well.
It is supposed to last a few weeks, so we will see how we go.
Please check your dog kennels. They were getting sucked dry.
Still a few volunteers in town
THANK you to all those that have come to our little town to help us out.
You have all given up your time to come out on the dusty Hay plains to fight floodwater, not fires.
Thank you for all the donations of food and cakes dropped off to our RFS shed.
They were much appreciated. It may pay to ask at the shed before you drop anything off from now on to see if they can use it.
No use seeing good food going to waste if they cannot use it.
A big thank you to our local RFS brigade for putting the hours in that you have over the past month or so.
It is not quite finished yet, but we are getting closer to normal.
Bowls still postponed
AS much as I love my bowls on a Saturday afternoon, it is the last thing on my mind at the moment.
We will work out the next week or two or so when our rivers drop to a safe level.
