Bone-dry waterways splash back into life after scattered storms

Doug Rixon's property backs onto Dungowan Creek and it's been about two years since he's seen water flowing through it.

It was a "total surprise" to see the flash flood, because his property had only received about 6mm of rain. But the hills above him got up to 60mm.

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"On Tuesday, my mate came down from up the creek and asked me, 'How much rain have you had?'" Mr Rixon said.

"I told him only a few mil. He laughed and said, 'I want to show you something'. So we hopped in the car, drove up the road about four kilometres, and there it was coming down in a big rush.

"It was bloody magic to see."

About 3pm, the cascade of water came past Mr Rixon's place, peaking at four or five feet deep.

"It's come down very quickly and deep, and left equally quickly - over three or four hours [it] dropped three or four feet," he said.

"Overnight it slowed down to a trickle of about four or five inches."

The scattered showers also saw the Macdonald River flowing again, to the point where Tamworth Regional Council may be able to switch off the emergency bore supplying Bendemeer for a few days and instead use river water.

Jade Hollis said he was "very surprised" to discover the gully on the Carroll property he lives on had turned into a gushing river.

"I was on the verandah and it sounded like the wind was blowing its arse off," Mr Hollis said.

"I went to check it out and turns out it was the gully. I was actually quite shocked - we only got about 5mm, but the neighbours had 48mm and the Carroll shop said some places got up to 90mm."

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