History of Floods In Wagga

Since the first rural settlement in the early 1840s there have been 77 floods of over 8.23m.

History of floods in Wagga Wagga

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, i.e. in one year 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.

YEAR DATE RECORDED HEIGHT (Metres)
1844 Oct 10.97
1852 25 June 10.67
1853 July  10.90 
1867 July 9.32 
1869 July  9.09
1870 28 April 10.67 
  May 10.06
  June 9.22 
1878  Nov 8.99
1879 20 Sept 9.35 
1887 8 July 8.38
1891 20 Jan 9.25 
  29 June 10.46
  13 July 9.38
  6 Aug 8.53
1892 20 Oct 8.34
1894 28 March 8.61
  23 April 9.17
  29 June 8.41
  21 July 8.31
  12 Sept  8.74
1900  31 May 8.56 
  7 July  9.98
1905  14 July 8.38
1906 6 Oct  8.89
1916 31 Aug 8.23 
  9 Oct 8.76
1917 21 July 8.31 
  23 Aug 8.53
  8 Oct 8.31 
  24 Oct 8.51 
1922 31 July 9.17
1925 30 May 10.13 
1931* 13 June 8.76
  26 June 9.65
1934    18 Aug 8.53 
  28 Oct 9.14
1939 26 Aug 8.61
1950 25 March 10.13
  6 April 9.07 
  24 Oct 8.92
1952 3 June 8.38
  19 June 9.79
  6 June 8.38
  31 Oct 8.84
1955 29 Aug  8.43
1956 5 May 8.31
  19 May 8.46 
  16 June  9.12
  29 June 9.58
  10 July 8.99
  20 July  8.59
  28 July 8.71
  21 Oct 8.56
1959 24 Oct 9.17
1960 28 Sept 8.99
1970+ 26 Sept 8.86
  1 Oct  8.69 
1971 14 Feb 8.46
1974 14 April 8.93
  30 Aug 10.74
  7 Sept  9.19
  7 Oct  8.92
  19 Oct 9.22
1975 27 June 8.41
  29 June 8.23
  15 July  8.66
  29 Oct 9.57
1976  20 Oct 9.40 
1978  12 Sept 8.92
1983 Aug 8.86
1984 30 Jan 8.94
  31 July 8.97
1989 7 April 9.06
  17 April  9.41
1991  15 July 9.61
1993 6 Oct 8.8
2010 17 October 8.7
  06 December 9.7
2012 08 March 10.56
201604 October8.83
2022August8.85

Photos from previous floods