700 metres of rubbish: farmers grapple with choked rivers amid Australia’s third La Niña

The water supply for Dubbo’s Burrendong Dam in September 2019, when it was at 4.5% of its capacity. The dam is now at 132% capacity as of September 2022. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

When the first floods swept through Kate Mildner’s drought-stricken farm in February 2020, she described it as “beautiful”. But then the rain just didn’t stop.

With 80% of her 4,400-hectare property now underwater and a disaster declared in the Warren Shire, it’s a genuine case of “one extreme to the other”, she says.