Dalmeny under water

My brother, Brendan lives at Dalmeny, just north of Narooma. (see attached Map) Actually he lives in a little patch of Eucalypt forest immediately south of the coastal settlement of Dalmeny. He has supplied the information and photographs in this post.

The Footbridge over Mummaga Lake (creek) at Dalmeny
16 February 2010

Mummaga Lake opened to the sea overnight 15 February 2010
Seen here on 16/2/2010.

"They also serve who only stand and wait" (Milton)

Brendan has told me, over the last couple of days of the rain they have been having down there. Remarkably, Narooma topped the State in rainfall till 9:00am this morning (for rain which mostly fell yesterday). Not often Narooma does that. Robertson is more likely to have that distinction, or Dorrigo.

It seems they have had even more rain today in Narooma..

Earlier today he wrote:

• We had 152 mm to 9:00 am.
• It is currently pissing down and more heavily than over the last 24 hours. The radio reports today are that it is raining at about 25 mm per hour for up to 3 hours in a hit.
• The highway is cut both sides of Bodalla.
• All the lakes are cut (open) to the sea.
  
• Tuross Lake opened last week and released the three dolphins that were captive there for about 18 months.
• Yesterday Kianga Creek opened. It is seriously septic because of algal blooms - they had collapsed before Christmas and were sitting in an anaerobic state on the bottom of the lake. When the initial water escaped it smelled really bad. I am hoping that this second storm will scour out the crap from the bottom of the lake.
• Dewsbury beach has an opening at each end (small creeks flowing to the sea).
• Our own swamp was across the bottom of Eucalyptus Drive and is broken to the sea.
• Mummaga Lake (Dalmeny) is almost up to the pedestrian bridge and raging to the sea. The sand bar broke open overnight.
• How is your arid zone. You only had 42 mm yesterday. (Very Funny - DJW)
  

This evening he said:

• South East NSW has been in drought for some years.
• Last week we got about 170 mm across 4 days. Over 3 days till 9:00 am this morning we had 278 mm and we most likely had a further 200 mm today. Very soggy.
• No problems with the house or garage, but there is some damage in the garden.
• Attached are a couple of photos of the area.
• This on the main drag into Dalmeny about 400 m before the shops (opposite the fire station and tennis courts).

Real Estate website

Fortunately, on the scale of floods, this is relatively minor flooding.
But no doubt for the owners, it is a"big deal".

• The rain seems to have eased off in the last couple of hours.

DJW Comments: It is really good that these various Lakes and streams have opened to the sea. Brendan mentioned that Dolphins had been trapped in Tuross Lake. They are now free. It will also allow fish stocks to be renewed, and the Prawns too.

DJW UPDATE:
The Bureau's weather records were "jammed" and presumably some person needed to approve the publication of an "anomaly" in their records. It was published at 11:00am this morning (16/2/2010):
Rainfall at Narooma - last two days:
Monday 15 February 2010 151.6mm
Tuesday 16 February 2010 161.8mm
That is a pretty amazing amount of rain to fall consistently over two days.

Other South Coast Bloggers:
My Blogging colleague David of "Focus on Nature" wrote last week of the storms they had at Bermagui. No doubt he has had even more since then, too.
James Woodford, who writes "Real Dirt" from somewhere south from Moruya, has also written about the Lakes opening, and fish being freed from stagnant lagoons and Eels on the move.