The head of the local Hawkesbury SES has been volunteering with the department for 47 years and if Windsor river heights reached those tipped earlier this morning he would have experienced that only one other time in his career.
Early this morning, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicted the Hawkesbury River at Windsor would reach 14 metres today, however at 9.38am this morning they updated their forecast, stating that the Hawkesbury River at Windsor is likely to peak near the major flood level (12.20 metres) Thursday afternoon, and renewed rises are possible.
Kevin Jones, NSW SES Hawkesbury Unit Commander, last experienced river levels at Windsor over 14 metres in 1978.
"Everyone used to talk about the 1964 flood [14.57 metres]. In March 1978 it got to 14.46 - that was probably the only other time in living memory that it got that high," Mr Jones said.
He said he didn't think it was likely that power would be cut to Windsor and surrounding areas today, but that depended on water affecting the substations.
"The higher the lines above the water in the lake that forms over South Creek towards Riverstone, the more they can withstand," Mr Jones said.
"I don't think we'll get to that height, but that would turn off the power to Windsor if that happened."
Local rescues
Mr Jones said Hawkesbury people had heeded evacuation warnings so far, and the local SES had been called out to 101 jobs since early Wednesday morning, including 15 by 9.30am this morning.
"Seven of those were flood rescues - people driving into flood water, a horse in a shed - but the lady ended up fixing that problem herself - a car in water and a truck in water, a medical evacuation and another evacuation," he said.
There was also a man who was rescued by boat from the roof of his shed in Pitt Town.
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He said all up it had been "pretty mundane".
"Everyone's a bit calmer this year. They've all reacted pretty well, despite a few challenges with the weather - yesterday was terrible," he said.
"Everyone's taken heed of the warnings and reacted accordingly. Last year was a good practice for this year."
He said if river levels reached 14 metres then "a few more" houses would be evacuated, including some around South Windsor on streets including Cox and Ross, and some more lower lying areas of Wilberforce.
Sarah Falson
Daily Liberal journalist. I love telling people's stories. Get in touch at sarah.falson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Daily Liberal journalist. I love telling people's stories. Get in touch at sarah.falson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
