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Wagga Wagga City Council weekly newsletter
Saturday 15 October 2022 | Issue #417
Plan your trip as flooding impacts our roads
Council
Council is encouraging road users to plan ahead and allow extra time for their travels across the Local Government Area, with a number of major and local roads closed due to the Murrumbidgee River flooding at Wagga Wagga.
Flooding closes several local roads TRAFFIC IMPACTS: Council has closed a number of roads affected by flood waters from the Murrumbidgee River. Environment & Animals
PACK LEADER: Zoo Curator Wendy McNamara with the zoo’s dingo pack of Diego, Zeke, Shadow and Simba.
New furry faces arrive at our zoo The Wagga Zoo and Aviary welcomed two more dingo puppies and a southern hairy-nosed wombat named Herbie to its ever-expanding family this week. Herbie the southern hairy-nosed wombat is 18 months old and has arrived at the zoo replacing baby wombats Gus and Madeline who arrived last month. Zoo Curator Wendy McNamara said the two baby wombats were candidates for rehabilitation and release and have now gone off to be part of a program which will see them safely returned to the wild.
“We’ll miss Gus and Madeline, but we’re happy they will be out living in their natural surrounds,” Ms McNamara said. New arrival Herbie has a quieter personality than his furry predecessors and is taking some time to get familiar with his new home. “He’s still a bit shy and nervous,” Ms McNamara said. “We’re hoping once he gets used to life here, we’ll be able to encourage him to come out and say hello to people.
“We are hopefully going to get Herbie a girlfriend. He’s really sweet.” Simba and Shadow, the new threemonth-old dingo puppies, have quickly established a happy pack with Diego and Zeke, the four-month old puppies already in residence. “Everyone loves them,” Ms McNamara said. “They’ve been so good; there’s always people out in the playground and they just ignore them, they’re so used to having people around. They’ll lie there and sleep – they’re just loving life.” Unfortunately, there have been a couple of instances of people throwing items into the dingo enclosure, endangering the puppies’ health. “Someone threw a football in and on another occasion a carrot,” Ms McNamara said. “We’ve also seen a few people trying to feed them human food through the fence. “The dingoes are on a special diet, so eating things they’re not used to can upset their tummies. It’s the same with footballs; they’re not dog toys, the dingoes can chew bits off and swallow them, causing complications." Residents will have the opportunity to give the dingoes a pat at FUSION BOTANICAL, taking place at the Botanic Gardens precinct this Saturday 15 October 2022. For more information, visit wagga.nsw.gov.au/fusion The Zoo and Aviary is open Thursday to Monday, 9am – 4pm.
Eaten takeaway? Place the scraps in the green lid bin after completing your meal, but don’t forget to remove any soft plastic bags or hard plastic knives/forks/spoons first. Remember, the green lid bin is for food organics and garden organics only.
To learn more visit: wagga.nsw.gov.au/householdwaste
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has reported the river reached a peak of 9.22 metres in the city on Wednesday evening, 12 October. The Eunony Bridge Road was closed on Tuesday night after flood water crossed the road at several points between the bridge and the Sturt Highway, while the section of Boorooma Street between the Olympic Highway and Gardiner Street was closed on Wednesday morning. Director Infrastructure Services Warren Faulkner said both these roads will remain closed until the water has receded, the pavements dry out and the roads are cleared of debris. “We’re encouraging motorists and cyclists who ordinarily use Eunony Bridge to plan ahead and allow themselves extra time to travel,” Mr Faulkner said. “Obviously the impact of these closures has been a sharp rise in the traffic flow on other parts of the city’s road network, particularly the Gobba Bridge and the Wiradjuri Bridge, so we’re asking all road users to be patient and drive to the conditions.” Residents and visitors to our city are reminded that many of our open space areas adjacent to the river, including the Riverside precinct, are currently inundated and closed to the public. Strategic Asset Planner (Parks and Recreation) Ben Creighton said Council is asking people to stay away from these areas. “While the water may not appear dangerous it can still be moving quite quickly and is not safe for people to be walking through,” Mr Creighton said. “Riverside precinct, which has been designed to withstand inundation, will remain closed until the flood water has receded and the area has been thoroughly cleaned.” To stay up-to-date about local road closures, visit wagga.nsw.gov.au/flooding
For more emergency information, advice and warnings: NSW SES: ses.nsw.gov.au Murrumbidgee NSW SES on Facebook: facebook.com/MERRHQ NSW Warnings (BOM): bom.gov.au/nsw/warnings/