Residents stranded as flooding cuts Tamworth in two
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The Peel River peaked more than six hours earlier than predicted (ABC)
Floodwaters have cut Tamworth in northern New South Wales in two.
The Peel River peaked more than six hours earlier than predicted an hour ago, cutting Tamworth in two after torrential rain brought falls of more than 164 millimetres to the district.
The State Emergency service's Namoi division controller Kathleen Caine says it received more than 130 calls for help including several from motorists who became stranded in floodwaters.
"People stranded across causeways, people washed off causeways, people in trees, people trapped in vehicles," she said.
The Department of Community Services has opened two evacuation centres.
The department's Bob Solley says several people have left their homes.
"At the moment we're accommodating about 16 people in motels in Tamworth that were stranded here," he said.
Emergency services say it will take several hours for the flood levels to drop.
Business owners in the low lying industrial area of Taminda are hoping they may have escaped most of the flooding because of the city's partially completed levee bank.
The State Emergency Service's Andrew Galvin says there were fears it might not be able to hold the water back.
"The levee is incomplete. It runs three quarters of the length of Taminda with a flood at the height we've got, there'd normally be water right through Taminda, but that's not the case," he said.
"I was unsure what the flood behaviour would be at this particular height, but it looks like a good outcome for most of the businesses in Taminda."
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