Downtown Cobargo for a while around midday on Monday appeared to be threatened by rising floodwaters with local schools including Narooma High School dismissing students and evacuating by lunchtime.

High tide had water over the road at Coila Lake while torrents rushing down Stoney and Whittakers creeks saw bitumen stripped off the road surface and solid guardrails twisted into scrap metal by a tangle of huge dislodged tree trunks and other debris.

Those driving the highway shortly before it closed again at Bodalla witnessed something akin to a war zone.

Narooma and Bermagui police officers waded out into water on several occasions rescuing two passengers in a washed away vehicle at Kianga Creek on the Princes Highway and shortly thereafter out of a car that failed to negotiate a flooded Wallaga Lake bridge.

By Monday night, with high tide scheduled for midnight, the Narooma boardwalk and Apex boat ramps were underwater.

Residents stranded in their homes

Someone also waiting for high tide on Monday night was Cheryl Morgan and her family who stranded in their home that fortunately was raised above the flooding on Mort Avenue.

Mrs Morgan said she was awoken at 4am on Monday by rising flood waters and just had enough time to move her car to a friend's place on higher ground before her garage became flooded by 7.30am.

She also lost her computer, sewing machine and her freezer floated away when her backyard and shed were flooded.

But as of Monday evening her family were in good spirits although stranded up in their house.

"We wanted rain, well we got it," Mrs Morgan said.

Several tinnies have taken to the waters in one case causing tension with a fire brigade member who on his way to a call out noted it was not a time to be joyriding around, but in the case of some stranded residents boats were the only way in or out.

On the low-lying areas of the Narooma Flat residents on streets adjacent to Smyth Oval found garages and sheds flooded by mid morning on Monday.

Lynch Street resident Gabe Collins gave a running report to the local ABC radio on the situation as the waters rose and fell as the rains came describing how the water began backing up in the drainage ditches.

Water streamed onto Riverside Drive but fortunately the waters while torrid with debris and sediment did not rise on the high tide on Monday, although Quarterdeck cafe owner Chris Scroggy did report that the water rose to just below his floorboards and the jetty was swamped.

Even businesses on the relative high ground of midtown Narooma suffered with Retravision and surrounding businesses inundated by water.

The Narooma cinema building also suffered as early as Saturday with water breaching the roof and shorting out the power board in the middle of the morning screening of Avatar.

The owners are now waiting for the roof to be repaired before an electrician can get to work.

Down at the Ocean View Beach Resort manager Jason Beard was doing his best to get water flowing back into Nangudga Lake.

But residents watched the water steadily rise on Monday morning having to call owners of next door caravans to say there was a foot of water in their annexes.

Permanent residents June and John Rose have lived in the caravan park for 11 years and while witnessing the rising waters before had never seen anything like this latest event.

"The puddle became a lake and the lake became an indoor swimming pool in no time at all," Mrs Rose said.

The water had inundated their spacious home leaving only the raised kitchen area to shelter on with all the valuables including the new recliner while down below belongings were stacked high on beds on other furniture.

Nangudga most likely opened on Monday night with reports that someone had attempted to open it with shovels, an offence that could attract a fine worth thousands, but the water kept rising nonetheless.

Farmers welcome the rain after the drought

Even farmers are saying there's been enough rain, for now.

The Dibdens at Tilba Tilba recorded an amazing 425mm in the 24 hours leading up to Monday night that while welcome caused significant damage on their property including collapsed creek beds with fences and newly planted Landcare trees washed away.

Some of the fences washed away or still underwater were only repaired last weekend after the previous weekend's total rainfall of 350mm and resultant flooding.

"I only got to fix half of the damage and now it's all underwater again," Nic Dibden said.

This latest flood was the biggest single rainfall event he had witnessed with huge flows pouring off the farm and down into Wallaga Lake.

He said his father Mal Dibden from Dignams Creek had predicted that big floods were coming and that the floods would come one after another with three or four major events in one year.

Fortunately his herd of Jersey cows were safe on higher ground although obviously stressed by the mayhem.

Still the Dibdens are not complaining as this month they have already recorded double last year's total rainfall and it was only two weeks ago when they were desperate for any rain with their paddocks parched and sparse.

Another farmer welcoming the rain is Geoff Hopkins whose land straddles Corunna Creek near the Old Highway and Tilba Winery.

The causeway just downstream from their property is normally the trigger point for National Parks to open Corunna Lake.

After the first flooding event earlier this month, the water lapping at the edge of the causeway signalled Corunna Lake was just about full.

Interestingly with the first flood came a surge of blackened leaves from the Mt Dromedary bushfire back in August.

Then this weekend the rain came again with Mr Hopkins recording 508mm between 9pm on Sunday and 6pm on Monday making a total of around 800mm for the month.

This time Corunna Creek rose one metre above the flats on each side bringing with it more blackened debris from slopes of Gulaga Mountain and mixing in with the brackish water from the lake at the bottom of the property.

This salty water is no good for the land and the torrent took out even deep concreted-in fence posts.

He recalled the floods of 1971 but said in the good old days local landowners took matters into their own and opened Corunna Lake with their tractors, which he said was better for the lake which had suffered during the recent long closures.

Mr Hopkins was now stranded as all access roads to his property were washed away.

Brian’s rainfall totals:

THE rainfall records (daily totals to 9am) at Marine Rescue Narooma recorded by Brian Gunter for the past five days are:

12th - 4mm, 13th - 22mm, 14th - 53mm, 15th - 152mm, 16th - 162mm.

The five-day total (Feb 12-16) was 393 mm.

The total so far for February 2010 (1st-16th) is 571mm. This breaks the previous wettest February total of 530mm in 1971!

Plus the total rainfall for ALL of 2009 was 496mm.

For other main centres in our region, the five-day (12th - 16th) and February so far (1st - 16th) rain totals are:

Moruya Heads - 293/416mm; Batemans Bay - 189/299mm; Bega - 215/381mm.

So Narooma has done very well!

Wettest month in years for NSW South Coast

* Parts of the New South Wales South Coast are experiencing their wettest month in years after heavy falls in the past 48 hours.

* Narooma has recorded 571mm of rain so far this month, making it the town’s wettest month since 1911.

* Moruya Heads has received 416mm so far in February, making it the town’s wettest month in 19 years, while Bega has recorded 381mm for its wettest month in at least 16 years. Braidwood is experiencing its wettest month in 12 years, recording 181mm so far this month.

* “After one of the driest years on record, the New South Wales South Coast is now experiencing one of its wettest months on record, with torrential rain over the past 48 hours,’ says Tom Saunders, Meteorologist at The Weather Channel. “Narooma has received more rain during the past two weeks than the town saw through the whole of 2009.’

“The rain was due to a deep low pressure system off the coast which combined with very humid air from the tropics,” says Saunders. “The low is now on its way towards New Zealand so we are not expecting any more significant rain this week.”

Source: The Weather Channel