Our 2021 flood may have caused Tamworth's biggest ever traffic jam, but the water soon receded, with access roads eventually becoming viable.

With this 1910 flood there was little chance of a traffic jam, with the first car appearing in Tamworth only six years prior.

This photo, taken from the Central Hotel Corner, looks along Peel Street towards the Treloars business and the Exchange Hotel.

By then the water had receded by at least a metre, with a depth of 2.7 metres having been recorded at its peak at the corner of Peel and Bourke Streets.

Around 11 inches (270 mm) of rain over 5 days in early January had brought a torrent of water down both the Cockburn and Peel River, with the Peel breaking its banks near todays velodrome and Eastpoint.

The 1910 flood led to the demise of our third Showground, where today's No.1 Oval and northern section of Bicentennial Park is located.

It wasn't until the 1930's that the present eastern levy-bank was constructed to prevent flooding in the CBD.

Much later the opening of Chaffey Dam assisted with flood mitigation.

As our climate changes, who knows when our next flood will come, as surely it will.

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