The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) continues its Mid North Coast flood forums next week with Kempsey CBD businesses and residents invited to provide feedback on the prolonged period of moderate flooding that affected the Macleay in March.
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The SES Kempsey CBD Flood Forum will be held on Tuesday June 22 at the Kempsey Macleay RSL Club starting at 7 o'clock.
The forum aim is to give people an opportunity to talk about the March floods and to identify ways NSW SES and local communities can work together to improve flood preparedness, response and transition to recovery.
Over the seven days from the 17th to 24th March rainfall across the already saturated Macleay catchment ranged from 80mm to over 750mm, with up to 758mm recorded at Aldavilla.
At Kempsey, two moderate flood peaks close to the major flood level of 6.6 metres were recorded.
As a result, the Kempsey CBD flood levee system came close to being overtopped and led the NSW SES to issue evacuation orders for the Central Kempsey and CBD areas on Friday 19th March.
Over two weeks during the prolonged flood event NSW SES volunteers from across the Kempsey Shire worked around the clock responding to 421 requests for emergency assistance including 68 flood rescues, sandbagging, making safe and water-tight storm-damaged properties, providing emergency medical transportation, assisting with fodder drops and resupplying isolated residents.
"Although the Macleay did not experience the severity of flooding that occurred in the Hastings and Manning catchments it is important that we take this opportunity to hear community feedback about the March event so we can be in an improved position for the next flood on the Macleay," NSW SES Northern Zone Deputy Commander Tony Day said.
For more information about the forum contact NSW SES Community Capability Officer Steve Lawrence on 0404 828 949. For emergency flood and storm, assistance call NSW SES on 132 500.
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