Many residents along the Hawkesbury River 'haven’t lived through a flood like this'

Sky News senior reporter Jonathan Lea says the “dangerous” flooding of the Hawkesbury River is on par with floods seen in 1990 and 1961, but many newer residents “haven’t lived through a flood like this." “It’s certainly the biggest flood I think we’ve seen since 1961,” he said. “In fact, they were talking about the river height being 13 metres above … river level. "To put that though into context the largest flood they recorded here back in the 1800s was actually nearly 20 metres”. “But this is certainly a dangerous one, at least on par with what we had back in 1990, 1961, they seem to say, which means that those who lived through that are now towards the back end of their lives. “Many people moved into the Hawkesbury; they haven’t lived through a flood like this." Mr Lea said the Hawkesbury River is “extraordinarily dangerous” when it floods because there are five tributaries which run into it including the Macdonald and the Colo Rivers. “At the moment the Colo is higher than the Hawkesbury, so that’s coming in at a much higher rate which is causing a backlog of water … and that’s when we start to see this flooding across the alluvial floodplain,” he said.