Originally from the Pinnacle area south of Forbes, Dean is the Director and chief pilot at Orange Helicopters. In recent weeks he has been engaged in various roles assisting with SES flood relief activities.

Dean has assisted with relocating people and re-supplying residents in addition to the movement of equipment from pumps and boat motors to mail. 

He has also aided in the important task of stock movements and fodder drops to stranded stock isolated on islands throughout the areas of Forbes, Bedgerabong, Condobolin, Louth, Wilcannia and Bourke.

“The amount of help that is needed during and after an event such as the latest floods means there is a lot of coordination from all of the services,” said Dean

“This particular operation is being co-ordinated by the SES, however they are working closely with the RFS who contribute a great deal of people power and trucks. The airbase at Parkes has been managed by a a team from New Zealand. We’ve had the ADF, the Singapore military and also a New Zealand fire fighting team here.” 

“Both the Local Land Services (LLS) and Department of Primary Industries (DPI) are involved with the coordination of stock rescues. They liaise with the farmers first, then organise suitable helicopters with the correct equipment to conduct the lift and relocation. It’s very complex, but works well when all parties are working together,” said Dean. Dean also works alongside two sons Peter and Jarrod who are both qualified crewmen. 

Imagine little islands surrounded by water, and on those islands are livestock stranded with no food; this is what farmers have been faced with. 

If the waters are expected to rise, teams are called in and tasked with airlifting stock in cages to a safe location nearby. If the stock can’t be moved, or if water levels are not expected to rise, stock feed is dropped so they don’t starve. 

Dean explained, “The LLS provide the service to get the feed to the stranded livestock, but they don’t provide the fodder, that is up to the farmer. Sometimes a farmer doesn’t have any hay and he might have some donated to him.” 

Dean became a helicopter pilot after being a firefighter with NSW Fire & Rescue for 24 years, and enjoys that his job still allows him to help people. 

“We build a lot of rapport with the farmers and I always wish them all the best. We’re not just there to do our jobs, there is definitely a lot of compassion there,” said Dean, who often refers to the livestock that he drops feed to as his ‘babies’. 

Dean went on to say, “A complete stranger whom I have not met, nor probably will, gave us a lovely message and some home made goodies as a thank you gift. It’s nice to know that people appreciate your efforts whilst they are experiencing tough times themselves. It’s not expected, but certainly appreciated.” 

Orange Helicopters own and operate four different helicopters, each with different capabilities including charter, weddings, farm inspections, fire and flood relief, joy flights and specialised training. 

Keep an eye on the Forbes & Parkes Phoenix facebook pages for some footage courtesy of Orange Helicopters. 

 

It is hard not to notice all the activity in the skies since the devastating floods hit our region. There have been up to 14 helicopters based at Parkes Airport to help with the biggest emergency operation ever in NSW. 

Michael Findlater, a helicopter pilot for Orange Helicopters, is one of the pilots engaged by the SES to support the relief operations. 

Michael said that his role was predominantly moving SES personnel and also doing reconnaissance. “Some aircraft are doing the heavy lifting, for example lifting cages full of livestock. I am doing reconnaissance, which involves mapping, crew movements, dropping much needed supplies and generally anything that is needed.”

Michael has been in Parkes for 10 days and will stay at least another week until the next crew changeover. Sadly, he predicts he will be back in the area as the water is not going away, it’s just moving west.

Originally from Dunedin in New Zealand, Michael has flown in six different countries over the last 20 years including Australia, Fiji, Czech Republic, Sage Islands, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

“Every mission is different in nature and scale. I did the Black Saturday fires in Victoria, flying an MS helicopter into Marysville. The town was flattened by fire, 90 people died and the survivors were all huddled together at the local football oval with their families and pets waiting to be rescued. It was a horrendous event, but all you can do is try to help.”

By Roxane Manley

As the flood water started receding this week Forbes started the mammoth task of cleaning up for the second time in two weeks.

A horror picture of the devastation and destruction were unfolding with everything covered in mud and debris, but fortunately the pure determination and grit of the community did not wash away.

“It is all a bit overwhelming,” said Forbes Public School principal Meg Staples on Tuesday still managing a smile as she managed over 100 volunteers, including parents, teachers, ADF, RFS and Forbes Shire Council volunteers.

“We prepared really well,” she said, after the school was inundated only 11 days earlier, but it was still a huge task to get about 17 rooms, including the front office, kindergarten classroom, toilets and library, cleared and deep cleaned. Carpets and nails had to be removed, floors, walls and halls washed and everything sorted.

“All the support has been absolutely fantastic,” said Meg looking at the beehive of activity to get the school ready for the kids to return as soon as possible.

The same intensity of activity was seen all over town at businesses, sport clubs and private homes. “We did not lose anything really valuable, but there is so much cleaning to be done,” said Rex Barton at the Forbes Historical Museum. He was very grateful for the help they had received from the ADF and RFS on Monday.

“The old pieces of furniture have done really well, but we have some display cabinets damaged as the water came up to about half a metre right through the museum and higher in the back rooms.” 

The plan is to only reopen next year to give the volunteers enough time to get it all back to normal. 

Ken South was helping at the Forbes Vet Clinic where his wife Sue Brown works. The clinic had moved to temporary accommodation to continue its work. “There’s been some losses, but not as much as some other businesses,” said Ken. “Everyone has been so terrific in coming to help, including the ADF and RFS.” 

Forbes resident Peter Walsh also had some assistance from the RFS on Tuesday to wash all the mud from his partner’s house in Renfree Street. “This flood just beat us. For pensioners the loss is just devastating.” 

Peter said although they had prepared really well, things like the kitchen and bathroom cupboards would still need to be replaced. “There is a lot of assistance offered to farmers and businesses, but I’m not sure what is on offer to us.” 

Despite all the mud and damage, Peter was happy to see the return of frogs in the garden. “We’ve not had them for years, and we found some crayfish in the house!”

A shock wave rippled through the community of Parkes on Monday as the extent of the worst flood to ever hit the town unfolded.

Torrential rain across the Central West on Sunday with 106mm measured at the Parkes airport created conditions for a ‘freak flood’ which inundated hundreds of homes. Residents on both sides of Billabong Creek and further away towards Kelly Road woke up around 4:30am with water running through their homes.

All the main roads into Parkes were closed on Monday and the town was cut in two as the Billabong Creek bridge on the Orange road was severely damaged. Emergency services were only able to reach flood affected residents by Monday night.

With water gushing 1.7m over the Lake Endeavour spillway, and every other little creek feeding into it filled to capacity, the 4m water marker at the creek crossing on the Eugowra road was completely submerged. The water spread far over the creek banks creating flood plains in places people would never have imagined in their wildest dreams it would get flooded. A resident who had just built a new home on Emerton Road said the water came about 1.5m higher than the one in 100-year flood event level.

Many homes along Nash Street were also inundated and parts of the road was closed because of flooding.

Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith said the devastation was unbelievable. He praised the community for the kindness shown in helping each other saying it was really inspiring.

We received plenty of beautiful images of birds, flowers, landscapes, pets and more from our readers for the Spring Photo Competition. The judges had a tough task picking the winners. Bec Bennet from Hold Photography picked 15-year-old Peta Allen as the Forbes winner, while Marc Payne from March Payne Photography named Elizabeth Drady as the Parkes winner.

Bec’s comments on Peta’s winning entry was: “Lovely composition, perfect mirroring of the silo in the water, nice warm colours, soft afternoon sky. Depicts a lovely country scene.” Marc said of Elizabeth’s winning shot: “It has impact, it fills the frame and is nicely exposed.”

The judges also wanted to give a special mention to the second and third place winners.

• Forbes 2nd: Katie Drady: “Skiing in theflood waters. Great concept, great current scene for our region.”

• Forbes 3rd Anne McLennan: “Great composition, beautiful bright colours, goodfocus.”

• Parkes 2nd: Wendy Baigent “Image fillsthe frame and has nice colour, gives impact.”

• Parkes 3rd: Casper Jones “The use oflight is gorgeous in this image and thelight in the cat’s eyes draws you in.”

Peta and Elizabeth have each won a family photo session with Bec and Marc respectively.