The heavens opened over Bellingen last month, pushing the town past its average annual rainfall just five months into the year, and leading to widespread flooding.
By Michael Burt
BELLINGEN – Torrential rains in May have pushed Bellingen’s annual rainfall past its yearly average.
Bellingen has eclipsed its average annual rainfall of 1517mm after another soaking last week and 22 days in May that featured a rain event.
The official Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) rainfall monitoring station for Bellingen has recorded 1527mm up until 3 June. That includes yet another chart topper for the north coast region with 337mm on Thursday 22 May. While the May rainfall total of 802mm did not break the May record of 1091mm in 1996, it did smash an historic average of 171mm.
That led to moderate flooding across the shire, causing damage to roads and farms and an evacuation advice for some residents in areas like Urunga Waters Caravan Park, Yellow Rock Road, and East Bellingen. Estuaries and beaches across the Shire also experienced varying levels of coastal erosion.
Photo by Vivian Hoskins: Bielsdown River in flood Dorrigo
Urunga Golf Course
Photo by Vivian Hoskins: Dangar Falls in flood Dorrigo
Lavenders Bridge Bellingen looking North
Photo by Brad McCosker: Lavenders Bridge looking south