Cabonne Council braces for huge clean up bill mayor Kevin Beatty tells of 'devastation' across Molong, Cudal and Eugowra

The towns of Molong, Cudal and Eugowra experienced major flooding on Monday, November 14.

Orange alone recorded 90 millimetres and Wyangala Dam was releasing 230,000 megalitres per day on Monday, placing further strain on an already swollen Lachlan River.

Cr Beatty told the Central Western Daily that the size of the clean up bill would be large and that he'd already been in contact with government.

"I've had phone calls from both state and federal representatives offering financial assistance, we're always grateful for any financial assistance during disaster times," he said.

"The bill's big and we're going to need as much financial support as we can get, from whoever and wherever."

Cr Beatty, who served as police officer during the infamous 2005 flood, said the devastation hadn't fully sunk in across the LGA.

"It's early stages and its about helping the people that have been flood-affected and trying to do the best we can there to get them cleaned up and back on their feet a bit," he explained.

"This is a big one though and it's not going to change overnight, that's for sure.

"There are more emotions and realisation of losses to come, but during that adrenaline we're all just focused on the clean up.

"But reality will hit in a few days. It's just so devastating that words cant describe the impact of what's happened."

Meanwhile Western NSW regional director for Business NSW Vicki Secombe said financial assistance needed to be made a priority.

"We understand that this is a developing situation, but we need both levels of government to be working together to ensure grants and other support measures are put in place as swiftly as possible," she said.

"Flood affected businesses in Western NSW will need access to grants such as the $50,000 small business grant that assists with the clean-up, stock losses and the reinstatement of a small business that were provided this year to businesses along the NSW Coast and Sydney.

"Businesses that were inundated by flood waters in Forbes, Molong, Eugowra or anywhere in Western NSW are no different to flood affected businesses in Sydney or along the Coast and should receive the same support."

Cr Beatty said it would take a while before business owners and council would know the full extent of the financial blow.

"It's one of those difficult things because personal and private property is the responsibility of the owners, so it's matter of working out what's what between those properties and council infrastructure," he said.

"Council will then be able to claim insurance but another of the tricky things for businesses will be what's flood-determined and what isn't.

"A lot of these places aren't able to be insured for flooding and the damages caused by it, so it's not good."

There are currently six evacuation centres open across the region:

Cabonne Council has temporarily shut their office in Cudal but the Molong council building is still open.

Tips are also open at Manildra and Cargo over the next couple of days but Eugowra remains closed until Saturday.

Cargo Waste Management Facility is open Tuesday, 15 November. Manildra Waste Management Facility is open Wednesday, 16 November, at 9am.

The following roads are currently closed:

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