Heavy and widespread rain across three states is bringing joy to parched towns with some farming regions receiving “drought-breaking” rains.
Further rainfall from ex-Tropical Cyclone Esther was delivering water into regional water storages and rivers, with farmers able to plant crops for the first time in several seasons.
WaterNSW said major flows from Queensland were boosting flows into the Barwon-Darling river system that was seeing its biggest natural flows since 2016.
But the state’s water supply agency said even though many of its water storages were building, many were still in “drought territory”.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a drought update on Thursday, showing there were still large areas of New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory with rainfall well below average for the past month.
But the falls in the past two days appeared likely to change that picture. Flood warnings were current for about 10 rivers around the state.
Severe weather warnings for heavy rain and locally damaging winds remain current over parts of eastern Australia with a risk of severe storms in Qld and NSW later today. Find all the latest warnings at https://t.co/jbZPYOVYSz pic.twitter.com/ld9BNYLFgF
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) March 5, 2020
In Queensland, the bureau reported the town of Thargomindah had seen its wettest day since its official rainfall gauge was installed in 1999 with 128mm. Birdsville had seen 125mm in two days.
National Farmers’ Federation CEO Tony Mahar told Guardian Australia: “The rains are certainly drought-breaking in many areas.”
Moree, Dubbo, Parkes, Guyra, Tamworth, and south on the Monaro, the NFF said, had received welcome falls.
“The impact of this wet weather on the psyche of farmers, can’t be overstated,” said Mahar.
“Many grain growing regions are now in a position to sow a winter crop and livestock producers are starting to see good pasture growth.”
🌧️ Rejoice! Rain has drenched central NSW today, with over 90mm recorded in #deniliquin#abcriverina @abcnews @abcrural Shot on the #GH5 pic.twitter.com/q68CovZdHr
— Jake Lapham (@JakeLapham) March 5, 2020
He said the rainfall was the most widespread seen in 2020, but “there will always be, very unfortunately, areas that miss out.”
He added: “While the dams have filled and soil moisture levels replenished, the recovery from drought won’t happen overnight.”
Mahar pointed to government agriculture data released earlier this week that showed many NSW farms would record “zero farm cash incomes” for 2019 and 2020.
Mahar said: “Farmers have been pushed to the limit in terms of cash reserves and access to capital. Many livestock producers have also almost entirely destocked. Restocking will be challenging with supply pushing the price of cattle in particular, sky high.”
Drought assistance measures would play an important role in the recovery of drought affected farmers, he said, as cash would take time to flow.
WaterNSW executive manager Adrian Langdon said there had been good and steady rainfalls across the whole state. “We expect to see some good river flows, but it’s not drought-breaking for water storages.
Great seeing the rain..... Arranged stop for David to demo our Auto Feeder to Phil from Tomingley NSW. Thanks to Bernie from Feed Control with the use of his Feedtech Demo Auto Feeder. pic.twitter.com/LVlRVgsRdf
— feedtech feeding systems (@FeedtechS) March 4, 2020
“We still have many storages at 10% and are very much in drought territory still.”
He said the Barwon-Darling region had “endured the longest and most severe of the drought conditions”.
Flows currently moving along the the Darling River through the town of Tilpa could deliver about 200bn litres of water into the Menindee lakes system in the next six weeks.
Wagga Wagga (39mm), Batlow (55mm) and Albury (81mm) in the state’s south had also had good falls up to Thursday morning.
Bathurst and Orange had also received rain, Langdon said, but it was too early to know how this had impacted river flows.
Lovely lovely rain on the road between Moruya and Batemans Bay in NSW. After the tragic fires and pain for local communities over many weeks, just look at those green shoots! Wonderful! pic.twitter.com/XNCL7Au8zf
— Margy Osmond (@MargyOsmond) March 5, 2020
Lake Burrendong, which supplies about 70,000 residents including the town of Dubbo, had seen storages rise to 5% from just 1.5% a few days ago. This, he said, had given an extra four to five months of water supply.
He said: “The commentary I’m getting from people is that it’s nice for them to be talking about water again. This has been an extremely hard drought up north.
“The soil moisture is up and they can plant a crop for the first time in six seasons and get an income and put some food on the table.
“The feeling of having grass and feed changes people’s attitudes and gives them a feeling that there’s a change in the weather and that there’s a chance it might be breaking. There’s hope now that there’s a future.”
