Train stranded, tracks washed away after dam bursts in NSW Riverina
UPDATE 5:30PM | A DAM has burst its banks in the NSW Riverina, sending water gushing across paddocks and railway lines.
The run-off dam failed at Manildra Meat abattoir, just north of the Cootamundra township, around 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Water was released from the dam at such force, it washed a set of railway tracks out from beneath a passing freight train.
The train is now stranded on the flooded tracks.
An SES spokesperson said the volume of water released from the dam was not enough to cause flooding in Cootamundra, however, the SES doorknocked a number of low-lying homes in the township as a precaution.
Police, the NSW Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue NSW and the Australian Rail Track Corporation are on the scene.
An SES helicopter from Wagga Wagga has been tasked to undertake an aerial assessment of the site.
The local council has also closed a number of roads in the area.
Authorities are closely monitoring the situation.
#NSWRFS, #NSWSES & #FRNSW on scene at a dam burst Nth of #Cootamundra. Water has partially washed away the rail line pic.twitter.com/YggEEJG68D
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) October 5, 2016
