Goulburn area avoids heavy drenching but SES is at the ready

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the Southern Tablelands, ACT and other areas on Saturday morning.

Goulburn SES unit had resources at the ready. However unit controller Daryl Skinner said while up to 70mm was predicted to fall over 24 hours, this had been downgraded to about 25mm at 8.30am Saturday.

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"The storm cell is coming in from the east and breaking up as it hits the Great Dividing Range," he said on Saturday afternoon.

"I can't see this getting worse overnight, unless something changes."

The SES Argyle cluster had opened its incident management centre at Goulburn's Lanigan Lane depot on Saturday morning. The cluster also takes in Windellama, Collector, Crookwell, and Bigga.

Personnel were preparing for a busy day and had storm resources, flood rescue and flood reconnaisance units were on the ground, with the latter checking river levels.

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But Mr Skinner said the Mulwaree and Wollondilly Rivers had been steady all day. Units were stood down on Saturday afternoon. However they are ready to react if conditions change.

The Goulburn unit did not attend any call-outs on Saturday but reacted to two in the city on Friday, including a leaking roof and a tree branch threatening to fall.

In the Upper Lachlan, Jerrong Rd has been closed at Wiarborough Creek, 8km along from the intersection of Jerrong Rd and Wombeyan Caves Rd.

The storm downgrade will come as some relief to councils in the area. Goulburn Mulwaree alone claimed a total $14.9 million in natural disaster assistance from the state government for major storms in February and August, 2020. It is still working through a long list of road damage.

Goulburn's rainfall over the past two days stands in stark contrast to areas in northern NSW and Sydney which are receiving falls of more than 200mm. Sydney's Warragamba Dam also spilled over on Saturday afternoon and wild weather was hitting the Illawarra as well.

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Meantime, Goulburn Airport recorded 5.2mm from 9am to 5pm Saturday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The Airport also registered 58mm for the month, with the heaviest rain (17.2mm) on Monday, March 15.

Weatherzone has recorded 182mm for Goulburn for the year to date.

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