You invite the relatives to come and visit for Christmas Day, but then, thanks to some of the most welcome, but heaviest, rainfalls in nearly a decade they're forced to stay for a week :
Would you be pushing it to get emergency services to airlift out the annoying uncle who's threatening to drain your Christmas week beer supply by Boxing Day?Residents in the north-west NSW town of Coonamble are preparing for a tense Christmas Day, with the rural centre set to be cut off by waters from the flooded Castlereagh River.
With more than 200mm of rain falling in the area in the past few days - more than Coonamble's entire three-month average - the State Emergency Services predict that 5.2-metre flood waters will reach the town by 9pm.
Several thousand people could be isolated for up to a week as waters continue rising, with flood waters already destroying fences and killing stock.
...at least 20 rural properties on the outskirts of the town have already been cut off due to the flooding, and at least 50 more are bracing themselves for up to a week without contact with the outside world.
"As the flood moves downstream, more of these rural properties will become isolated," a spokesman for the State Emergency Services, David Webber, said.
"They are used to experiencing these kinds of events and they are all well stocked up with supplies. At this stage no one has requested supply and we have not had any emergency call outs."
By the way, I hope all of The Orstrahyun's regular readers and occasional visitors have a great and safe Christmas. I hope you get to spend it with the people you love, and those who love you.
I'll be posting here through the Christmas and New Year's break. It's not hard work, so why take a holiday?
If you're stuck for something to read in your time off, it's not too late to dive into ED Day, the free online novel I've been writing for the past few months. There should be a new chapter or two posted over the Christmas break, but if you're not already a regular reader, you can start at the beginning with Chapter One, right here.
Love to you, and yours.
