Latest news with #AdamRoberts
Sydney Morning Herald
22-05-2025
- Climate
- Sydney Morning Herald
River-by-river, how and where the NSW floods brought deadly destruction
Record breaking rainfall across northern NSW is causing vast amounts of water to flow down several massive river systems towards the NSW coast, causing major floods. Here are some the river systems most heavily affected by the flood disaster. The Manning River, fed by several tributaries that wind down from the high country north of Barrington Tops, surged to unprecedented levels this week after the district received half a metre of rain in three days. Taree and other townships including Wingham were swamped by floodwaters and hundreds of people were evacuated. A rescue team made contact with a 63-year-old man at Moto, north of Taree, but by the time they reached his flooded property, the man had died. Loading Others saw their livelihoods ruined. 'It's gone, it's gone. The shop is gone,' said Taree barber Mustafa Al-Abboodi. 'We're waiting for the water to go. What are we going to do?' James Larking and Kerri-Ann Gimbert had little warning before the waters rose to engulf their home, east of Taree. The couple swam through neck-deep water to rescue some deer and donkeys. 'We've lost everything, but we're alive, we're safe, that's the main thing,' Larking said. The Hastings River peaked above the major flood level late on Wednesday, with waters spilling into central areas of Wauchope and Port Macquarie. 'Some of the businesses in the CBD are inundated,' said the mayor of Port Macquarie Hastings, Adam Roberts. 'I have just been down there and some of the businesses have a foot or so of water in them.' Loading The water levels have stabilised and in some places are receding, but heavy rain is still falling in the catchment areas west of Port Macquarie. The Oxley Highway linking Wauchope and Port Macquarie remains underwater, with drivers having to take a circuitous route south to travel between the neighbouring towns. 'We haven't been able to get in to assess damage to the roads so it may be a while before they're back on line,' Roberts said. 'We're asking people to stay off the roads, where possible. There's still a lot of water around.' At about 8am on Thursday, at Rosewood just east of Wauchope, searchers found the body of a man in his 30s whose vehicle had become stuck in floodwaters. 'Some of the businesses in the CBD are inundated; I have just been in a couple that have a foot or so of water in them,' said the mayor of Port Macquarie Hastings, Adam Roberts. In Kempsey Shire, 23,000 residents are approaching 24 hours of isolation as floodwaters on the Macleay River reached 7.4 metres on Thursday morning. Kempsey mayor Kinne Ring said the community was bracing for flood levels not seen since 2001, with 250 millimetres of rain expected to fall across Thursday. 'We haven't had any loss of power or telecommunications, but people are running out of food and medicine, that is something we're worried about,' Ring said. Loading 'We've just had a lot of local rain, and we've had a wet April with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the water is coming down and staying.' In Smithtown, north-east of Kempsey on the Macleay River, homes have been wrecked by floodwaters that are expected to rise late on Thursday. Among those facing property damage is Kym Machin, whose bed and breakfast has been lashed by flooding that has exceeded four metres and threatens to rise further. 'Smithtown isn't a metropolis, it isn't the centre of the world, so I didn't expect tonnes of bookings, I expected public holidays and school breaks, but I probably won't get any of that now ... I've never seen it flood like this.' Machin's partner Ross Costanzo, who lives in a rural property in the neighbouring town of Old Station, thought the river had risen by more than a metre since this morning. 'The river is basically full; this morning it was high tide, and it's still raining now, it's still rising,' Costanzo said. Evacuation warnings were issued late on Wednesday for several stretches of the Nambucca River, including at Macksville, Bowraville at Nambucca Heads. Flood projections from the Bureau of Meteorology were being updated late on Thursday, with fresh evacuation warnings issued after 3pm on Thursday. 'You must evacuate now because flood water may impact your area,' said the State Emergency Service warning issued at 3.19pm to residents of Nambucca Heads who live close to the Nambucca River. In Bowraville, residents in several streets were warned at 3.21pm to take shelter. 'It is now too late to leave safely as evacuation routes are likely to be cut off,' the SES warning said. 'Seek shelter in a sturdy raised structure that can be safely accessed. You may now be trapped without power, water, and other essential services and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you.'
The Age
22-05-2025
- Climate
- The Age
River-by-river, how and where the NSW floods brought deadly destruction
Record breaking rainfall across northern NSW is causing vast amounts of water to flow down several massive river systems towards the NSW coast, causing major floods. Here are some the river systems most heavily affected by the flood disaster. The Manning River, fed by several tributaries that wind down from the high country north of Barrington Tops, surged to unprecedented levels this week after the district received half a metre of rain in three days. Taree and other townships including Wingham were swamped by floodwaters and hundreds of people were evacuated. A rescue team made contact with a 63-year-old man at Moto, north of Taree, but by the time they reached his flooded property, the man had died. Loading Others saw their livelihoods ruined. 'It's gone, it's gone. The shop is gone,' said Taree barber Mustafa Al-Abboodi. 'We're waiting for the water to go. What are we going to do?' James Larking and Kerri-Ann Gimbert had little warning before the waters rose to engulf their home, east of Taree. The couple swam through neck-deep water to rescue some deer and donkeys. 'We've lost everything, but we're alive, we're safe, that's the main thing,' Larking said. The Hastings River peaked above the major flood level late on Wednesday, with waters spilling into central areas of Wauchope and Port Macquarie. 'Some of the businesses in the CBD are inundated,' said the mayor of Port Macquarie Hastings, Adam Roberts. 'I have just been down there and some of the businesses have a foot or so of water in them.' Loading The water levels have stabilised and in some places are receding, but heavy rain is still falling in the catchment areas west of Port Macquarie. The Oxley Highway linking Wauchope and Port Macquarie remains underwater, with drivers having to take a circuitous route south to travel between the neighbouring towns. 'We haven't been able to get in to assess damage to the roads so it may be a while before they're back on line,' Roberts said. 'We're asking people to stay off the roads, where possible. There's still a lot of water around.' At about 8am on Thursday, at Rosewood just east of Wauchope, searchers found the body of a man in his 30s whose vehicle had become stuck in floodwaters. 'Some of the businesses in the CBD are inundated; I have just been in a couple that have a foot or so of water in them,' said the mayor of Port Macquarie Hastings, Adam Roberts. In Kempsey Shire, 23,000 residents are approaching 24 hours of isolation as floodwaters on the Macleay River reached 7.4 metres on Thursday morning. Kempsey mayor Kinne Ring said the community was bracing for flood levels not seen since 2001, with 250 millimetres of rain expected to fall across Thursday. 'We haven't had any loss of power or telecommunications, but people are running out of food and medicine, that is something we're worried about,' Ring said. Loading 'We've just had a lot of local rain, and we've had a wet April with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the water is coming down and staying.' In Smithtown, north-east of Kempsey on the Macleay River, homes have been wrecked by floodwaters that are expected to rise late on Thursday. Among those facing property damage is Kym Machin, whose bed and breakfast has been lashed by flooding that has exceeded four metres and threatens to rise further. 'Smithtown isn't a metropolis, it isn't the centre of the world, so I didn't expect tonnes of bookings, I expected public holidays and school breaks, but I probably won't get any of that now ... I've never seen it flood like this.' Machin's partner Ross Costanzo, who lives in a rural property in the neighbouring town of Old Station, thought the river had risen by more than a metre since this morning. 'The river is basically full; this morning it was high tide, and it's still raining now, it's still rising,' Costanzo said. Evacuation warnings were issued late on Wednesday for several stretches of the Nambucca River, including at Macksville, Bowraville at Nambucca Heads. Flood projections from the Bureau of Meteorology were being updated late on Thursday, with fresh evacuation warnings issued after 3pm on Thursday. 'You must evacuate now because flood water may impact your area,' said the State Emergency Service warning issued at 3.19pm to residents of Nambucca Heads who live close to the Nambucca River. In Bowraville, residents in several streets were warned at 3.21pm to take shelter. 'It is now too late to leave safely as evacuation routes are likely to be cut off,' the SES warning said. 'Seek shelter in a sturdy raised structure that can be safely accessed. You may now be trapped without power, water, and other essential services and it may be too dangerous for NSW SES to rescue you.'
Wall Street Journal
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Food Person' Review: A Ghostwriter With Taste
Isabella Pasternak, the frumpy, dumpy, 25-year-old protagonist of Adam Roberts's very appealing debut novel, 'Food Person,' is uncomfortable everywhere but in a kitchen, unsure of herself except when at a stove and consumed by a desire to become a cookbook author. When Isabella loses her job as a staff writer at a digital food magazine after panicking and making a hash of a chocolate-soufflé demonstration live on Instagram, it's a devastating blow. 'If she were to give up food writing, what else could she do? She had no talent for fiction, as she'd learned in college. Her imagination was limited to what her characters ate. 'Can we go a little deeper here?' her creative-writing teachers would nudge. 'What does your main character want besides unpasteurized Brie?'' Salvation seems to come in the form of a job ghostwriting a cookbook for one Molly Babcock, the beautiful former star of a prime-time soap opera and a onetime 'it girl.' For assorted reasons—mortifying viral photos, a reputation as a diva—she has made the transition from famous to notorious. Now she is seeking rehabilitation and rebranding. As her manager explains, 'Molly's pivoting into the food space.' It's a curious pivot to be sure. Molly, who is nasty, narcissistic, endlessly hungover and unreliable (if occasionally charming), doesn't cook and is calorie-averse. Never mind 'The Devil Wears Prada.' This is 'The Devil Eats Nada.'
