From Sunday, January 3 to Tuesday, January 5 much-needed rain soaked the area and the highest rainfall was recorded at Brogo Dam, with 164mm falling in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday morning followed by another 113mm over the next day, as measured by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). 

This water fed into the dam itself, which hit the 106.1m mark at 3.45pm on Monday before it started to decrease. 

In other locations, Regatta Point at Wallaga Lake received 133mm by Monday morning while Kanoona got 47mm on the same day and 64mm 24 hours later. 

Measured at Kanoona, the Bega River reached a peak of 5.6m at 5.45pm on Monday, a huge increase from 0.8m on Saturday before the rains began. 

It did not match the Brogo River though, which topped 6.5m at 5.15pm Monday afternoon. 

Major roads in the Valley were flooded and closed to traffic, such as the Tathra-Bermagui Rd at the Murrah Bridge, Tathra Rd at the Jellat Jellat Flats and Tarraganda Lane at Tarraganda Bridge.

In Bega, Bridge, East, Valley, Kirkland, Bega and Parrabel Streets as well as part of Carp St were closed when the Bega River and Kiss’s Lagoon flooded.

There was also a landslide on the Snowy Mountains Hwy just east of Brown Mountain on Monday that closed the highway for a time before one lane was reopened. 

As always, there were at least two incidents on the road, but the people involved fortunately escaped unharmed. 

About 10.30pm on Monday a woman from Eden was driving on Nethercote Road when, police said, she swerved to avoid an animal and lost control of the car which plunged into the Yowaka River. 

The woman escaped unhurt and the next day her car was pulled from the water.

Also, a 45-year-old man became trapped when he attempted to drive across the Murrah Bridge while it was flooded about 3pm on Monday.

Police and a passing Landcruiser assisted the man and he and his vehicle were rescued – however the man was given a $425 fine for negligent driving. 

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