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Printed Press - Sydney Morning Herald
Printed Press - Age (Melbourne)
Printed Press - Courier Mail (Brisbane)
Government Agency - NSW State Emergency Service
Government Agency - Queensland Department of Emergency Services
Government Agency - Dept Natural Resources & Environment, Victoria
Government Agency - Dept of Water Resources, NSW
Business or Professional Association - Insurance Council of Australia
Publication/Report - Hazards, Disasters & Survival, by Emergency Management Australia, 1997
Publication/Report - Australian Geographical Issues, Natural Hazards In Australia by Fred Bell
Addison Wesley Longman Aust P/L |
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The 1990 Great Floods were the worst that most of the affected areas had ever experienced (in the Nyngan region, rainfall was the highest on record). At their peak, flood waters covered over 1 million square kms of Qld and NSW (an area larger than all of Germany) and also affected SE Victoria in a concurrent but separate extreme event. Well over 2,000 buildings were inundated and large crop losses occurred with an estimated 1 million livestock dead.
In North-Western NSW and South-Western Qld, continual, heavy rains, partly caused by cyclones, drenched the flat inland plains during March. Further torrential (record) rainfalls in April then rapidly created widespread severe flooding. Many rivers had already flooded once and were in flood again at even higher levels.
At Nyngan, the interaction of numerous flooded river systems in northern NSW and southern Qld made flood height prediction difficult. Nyngan residents, on the Bogan River, strengthened levee banks in expectation of a record flood height which was eventually exceeded. Almost every building was flooded and 2,500 people were evacuated, mainly by military helicopters, under emergency conditions as all town services were lost. In total 717 (out of 782) residential, 98 (out of 100) commercial and 42 (all) public buildings were flooded above the floor level - accounting for 93% of the town. Considerable cost and hardship occurred because the town did not have a disaster plan to cope with levee bank failure. Residents, could not return to their homes for up to three weeks and were billetted by the people of Dubbo, about 160km away. The floods also seriously affected many farms and other NSW towns, including Warren and Forbes (100 houses above the floor level).
The flood crisis at Charleville, occurred several days before Nyngan's plight, when over 80% of the town (of about 3,000 people) was flooded also inundating all services. The hospital had to be evacuated by boat and a massive air evacuation saw over 2,000 residents uplifted (also mainly by military helicopters) to the higher, local airport, around which a huge 'tent city' was established. This accommodated 2,300 residents and up to 1,000 emergency workers at the height of the disaster and was responsible for providing over 15,000 meals per day at the peak period. Nearly 2,000 homes were inundated across the two states and in many cases were badly damaged - about 40 were beyond repair. The floods also seriously affected, and required evacuations from the Queensland towns of Augathella, Blackall and Jericho as well as numerous farms.
At the same time, in the Gippsland region of NE Victoria, extreme flooding occurred particularly on the Mitchell River severely affecting the Bairnsdale, Glenaladale and Stratford areas..(more information to be added).
Across the three affected States, the Great Floods claimed 7 lives, caused approximately 60 injuries and left 5,000 temporarily homeless. For Nyngan alone, the NSW Dept of Water Resources calculated the cost of damage, just to buildings, of $50m (1990 values). Agricultural losses and infrastructure (incl roads, railways, bridges, power, communications, water and sewerage) damage added greatly to total costs. The total estimated cost of the floods across the three states was $410 million (2001 values).
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