Bathurst farmers avoid the worst of region's severe flooding

Bathurst was smashed by 86.4 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday, November 14, the wettest 24-hour period in a quarter of a century.

It resulted in widespread flooding across the Central West, however, the flooding could've been a lot worse had it not been for the levee banks in Bathurst.

NSW Farmers Bathurst Branch President David McKay said farmers mostly lost fences from the recent floods.

"In Bathurst with our floods, it's mostly fences and that sort of stuff that has affected people in our area," he said.

"It's not too severe. Really, there's not too many problems compared to what other people have suffered.

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"All the farmers further out west would be suffering because the crops would be getting close to harvest time and the ground is still wet and boggy. They'll have another boggy harvest again.

"The people that are flooded out have lost a lot out at Forbes and Eugowra and places like that."

Mr McKay said Bathurst farmers have been battling unhelpful conditions for years.

Australia battled drought for a number of years, which culminated in the devastating bushfires during 2019.

The drought broke in NSW throughout the course of 2020 thanks to long-term rainfall, but the falls this year have been consistent and heavy.

"This rain is just as bad [as the droughts]," Mr McKay said.

"You get a beautiful crop, but then you can't get to it because it gets ruined by the rain.

"People were stripping wheat right through into April and May. That's unheard of.

"People just kept getting bogged, trying to get the last of the crop in, before burning what they couldn't get to.

"The sheep will be suffering too, from walking on the wet ground all the time."

Mr McKay believes last week's floods were the worst in 30 years.

"We've had 830 millimetres this year and I think in 1950 there were bad floods all over Australia and they had about 1000mm in Bathurst that year," he said.

"The floods we had the other day, it was probably 30 years since we had a flood that bad on our flat.

"The roads are all chopped up too. That's making things had for people."

At the moment, Mr McKay said farmers in the region should be harvesting their crops, however, the flooding might be affecting that.

"All up north they're harvesting. At Dubbo and out west in places like Nyngan, they'll be pretty close to harvesting in a normal season," he said.

"You need a week of dry weather for hay to dry out. People are making silage instead, but even that, there's bogging issues. It's pretty dangerous."

Not all crops hit by floodwaters will be ruined, though.

"It depends how long the crops have been sitting there, it depends if the crops are mature," Mr McKay said.

"If the ground dries out, they can get in and harvest it. But the water will affect the quality of the grain."

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