Wagga’s 1974 Floods

According to Wagga City Council since the first rural settlement in the early 1840s there have been 77 floods of over 8.23m. Official records of River heights since 1891 read at the Hampden Bridge gauge are available and estimated records are available of rivers over 8.23m since 1844.

Flooding of the City area in the south flood plain was frequent and to a lesser extent flooding occurred in the North Wagga Wagga village.

There have been years of frequent floods, for example in 1974 Wagga Wagga had five floods all over 8.92 m and there was severe flooding in the 1950 to 1956 period. In other long periods 1939 to 1949 and 1960 to 1970 no floods occurred. Significant floods have occurred in Wagga Wagga in 1852, 1853, 1870, 1891, 1925, 1950, 1952, 1974, 1991 and 2012 with the largest recorded flood of 10.97 metres occurring in 1844.

There have been two floods greater than the 1974 flood. You can view a complete list of flood years and heights on the Council’s website here.

See also the “Big Test” A CSURA blog post on the 1974 floods.

There’s more information on Council’s website here and here and you’ll find images of the 1974 floods here and here.