Manilla survived relatively unscathed from the rises in the Manilla and Namoi Rivers over the past couple of days unlike towns and villages downstream of Keepit Dam.
The rises in the rivers follow heavy rain (mostly last Thursday night and Friday morning) where around 180mls of rain fell in the catchment of the Manilla River (west of Barraba) and 150 mls in the catchment of the Namoi River (east of Manilla) to already saturated ground due to the continuing wet season we are experiencing and it will not take much more rain for it all to happen again.
The rivers peaked at around 10.5 metres at noon on Saturday which is one and a half metres lower than 1998 when they reached 12 metres.
In town there was no reported damage to buildings however fencing and irrigation equipment close to the river will require a lot of work to get them operational again.
However at one stage to Namoi River came very close to two houses in Dewhurst Street.
Manilla was very busy traffic wise on Saturday as people checked at the weir, junction and river below the showground.
The flood on Saturday morning was also the cause of a power outage in Manilla. A large log floating down the Namoi River (near the junction with Manilla River) got caught up in a low lying power line which caused the line to stretch shaking three power poles on Market Street which caused a power line break over the intersection of Market and River Streets. The broken line landed on a parked vehicle- fortunately the vehicle’s occupants were looking at the flood water. An Essential Energy crew were quickly on the scene and had to cut the power toremove and repair the line as well as check for other damage. The powerwas cut for about an hour.
Manilla SES have been kept very busy over the past few days checkingon rivers heights, road conditions and filling sandbags (just in case they were needed) and the community thank them for their efforts both here and in Barraba.
As a result of the heavy rain on Thursday night and Friday morning Manilla Fire & Rescue were called to the Royal Hotel (late on Friday afternoon) to pump out the cellar which had around 25cms of storm water in it.
And as a result of the overnight heavy rain the Manilla / Tamworth Road was cut at Moore Creek at 3.30pm on Friday due to flood water over the road. The road was reopened around 5pm.
Also the wet weather contributed to a motor cycle accident 6 klms from Manilla on the Barraba Road last Friday morning. A male motor cyclist was travelling south when he hit water over the road. The bike lost traction and slide into a table drain beside the road. A passing motorist called ‘000’ and the NSW Ambulance Service was quickly on the scene and he was taken to Tamworth Hospital where he is being treated for several broken ribs.
the weekend was sitting at 112 percent of capacity.
Mandowa Bridge, West Manilla on Saturday morning.
Warrabah National Park on Friday morning.
