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Three years ago Molong was running out of water and the NSW Central West town struck a deal to take some from nearby Orange. Aerial photos at the time show its local pool, filled with bore water, glistening with its blue tiles – an out-of-place oasis in the middle of a brown, parched landscape.
Just three years later, flash flooding swamped Molong and large lakes of water surround the town. On Tuesday morning, its pool was caked with mud, sticks and floating straw. Fifty volunteers were cleaning up after the water receded.
Extreme weather seems hellbent on toying with how much the town of around 2000 can take.
Locals clean the Molong swimming pool on Tuesday.Credit:Rhett Wyman
On Sunday and Monday, heavy rainfall of more than 100 millimetres caused nearby Molong Creek to break its banks at 4.35 metres, sending more than one metre of water through nearby houses and businesses. The town has been on high alert three times this year for floods – the last one just 10 days ago.
“The drought feels like a distant memory,” said Felicity Armstrong, who was among the pool-cleaning volunteers. “We had dust, mouse plagues, fires and of course now the floodwaters. We’ve had our fair share of disasters – it’s just been one disaster after the other.”
Molong pensioner Greg Smith, 75, spent Sunday night inside his caravan, laying on a wet bed with his dog, hoping the flash flooding didn’t creep any higher than his knees.
“I was talking to my mate from the SES on the phone, waiting to be rescued,” Smith said. “It was pretty scary while I was in it. I just had to wait until 8.30 in the morning [on Monday] when I could get out. If I stepped out of the caravan I would have been swept away, it came so fast. I broke out in sweats all night last night. Everything inside is a write-off. Got to start again.”
Two days later, he was still at the caravan park in Molong, where he’s lived for seven years, as a small group finishes clearing the wreckage from when flash flooding hit the town at late notice. There were free snags offered on the main road as shops were cleared out and mangled fences were removed from muddy parks.