![Tamworth Regional Council issued a 'white' alert for Dungowan Dam on Tuesday after a powerful storm hit the city. Picture file Tamworth Regional Council issued a 'white' alert for Dungowan Dam on Tuesday after a powerful storm hit the city. Picture file](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/150521478/53f0b9bf-ed15-4ec4-8e81-dd5229271f55.jpg/r0_0_707_473_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A POWERFUL storm has triggered the first safety dam warning for Tamworth in more than 12 months.
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A 'white alert' for Dungowan Dam was issued on Tuesday morning after more than 130mm of rain fell in the catchment upstream overnight.
Inflows from Dungowan and Lever Creek tipped the warning system to the lowest of the three alert levels, notifying residents of the amount of water that was upstream.
A 'white alert' is issued after a structural defect is detected, a heavy rainfall event or an unusual operation event. Tamworth Regional Council owns and operates the dam, which supplies the city's water.
The State Emergency Service was also notified of the alert.
Council's Director of Water and Waste Bruce Logan said between 10,000 and 20,000 megalitres, or about 8000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, was released from the dam.
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"The Dungowan Dam has an automatic tipping gate, we can't control that gate," he said.
"The amount of water flowing into the back of the dam dictates how often the gate opens and how long it opens for."
Council revealed the dam reached more than 400mm higher than supply level following the rain on Monday night.
Mr Logan said the alert and the releases had no immediate impact on residents living downstream, who were notified via a text message or recorded phone call.
"We're just trying to alert people there's a lot of rain and there's a lot of water coming out of the dam," he said.
"You need to be prepared if it gets any worse."
As part of the safety emergency plan for the dam, once the water reaches 'yellow' alert level an SES evacuation warning is issued.
An evacuation operation would be carried out by the SES once the 'red' alert level is reached.
Mr Logan said Dungowan Dam did not go above white alert level and the dam was "moderating".
The alert is expected to be removed by Wednesday morning.
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