Getting flood ready at ‘The Point’

More than 50 NSW State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers descended on Darlington Point at the weekend for vital flood rescue training, titled Exercise Noah.

NSW SES assistant commissioner Dean Storey said it was great to see an exercise of this scale taking place in the community, on the Murrumbidgee River.

“Exercising and drilling different scenarios is always invaluable,” he said.

“It was fantastic to have volunteers from our southern, western and south eastern zones participate in both water and land based flood rescue training activities.

“We also deployed our Mobile Incident Command Centre, mobile communications equipment (Cell on Wheels) and exercised full incident management functions to simulate realistic operational responses.

“Our volunteers were also joined by Fire + Rescue which will support future interoperability between the organisations.”

NSW SES southern zone deputy commander Supterintendent Scott McLennan said exercising in different parts of the state helps not just improve volunteer skills but also test capabilities in new environments.

“Improving our knowledge of different locations helps us enhance our skills and also prepare us for future operations,” Supt McLennan said.

“We’ve seen a number of floods over the years at Darlington Point, and during last year’s record flooding we had members from across the state sent in to assist with our operations.”

For emergency help in floods and storms, call the NSW SES on 132 500. In life threatening situations, call Triple Zero (000) immediately.