Up to 25mm of rain is expected later in the week. (Photo / news.com.au)

More than 7000 Victorian homes could be flooded as danger remains

Author: Newstalk ZB, news.com.au,
Publish Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2022, 10:39am

More than 7000 homes and businesses in Victoria’s north could soon be flooded as the state’s historic emergency event continues.

Shepparton residents are continuing to be bombarded with flood water, while other areas start the clean up process following last week’s monster deluge.

The Goulburn River may peak near 12.1m later on Monday morning, potentially putting 7300 homes and businesses in Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla in danger of being surrounded or filled with flood water.

Victorian Emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said they received 56 requests for rescues in those areas overnight on Sunday, with some yet to be undertaken.

Bureau of Metrology meteorologist Dean Narramore said several river catchments are expected to peaked on Monday.

“On the Avoca River around the Charlton area, it looks like will peak around 8m today with major floods that will cause some issues there today,” he told the ABC.

“Moving further eastwards, we’re looking at major flooding continuing and it will for a number of days on the Campaspe and the Goulburn River.

“We’ll see the floodwaters peak in Echuca and Moama, similar to the 1993 levels.

“Shepparton as well looking to peak sometime later today or into tonight. Similar to the levels of 1974, so it’s going a long way back.

“There’s a massive amount of water on the Goulburn right now and that all feeds into the Murray River, so we’re concerned for Echuca and Moama in the coming days.”

But he warned more heavy rainfall has been “unfortunately” forecast for later in the week, with up to 25mm potentially hitting already flood-affected areas like Echuca and Shepparton.

“Not good news for our flood-affected areas ... looking at widespread 25-50mm falls over much of inland New South Wales, northern Victoria and Queensland,” Mr Narramore said.

“This is a lot less than what we saw, but with everything now so wet and saturated, this is going to lead to renewed river level rises on many of our already flooded rivers.

“Particularly as we get in towards that Thursday and Friday time frame … we could see quite a few severe thunderstorms through inland areas across multiple days later this week and into the weekend.”

Mr Narramore also said “it could be a while” until the rain lets up for residents in Australia’s east.

“It looks like we will get a brief break over the weekend Sunday and Monday, but there is another system hot on its heels as we move into early parts of next week,” he told The Today Show.

“ This wet pattern continues to bring widespread flooding across eastern Australia.”

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said Victoria was facing a “a very serious situation”.

“The reports I‘m getting, we could be looking at up to 9000 homes inundated in northern Victoria and potentially close to about 34,000 homes in Victoria either inundated or isolated,” he told the ABC.

Mr Crisp said around 300 to 400 homes have inundated with flood water in Echuca, while about 800 to 900 have been affected in Rochester.

“I had the opportunity to fly over Rochester yesterday. To be frank, it‘s depressing, there’s water everywhere,” he told the ABC.

“We’ll work with, stand with, and support the community of Rochester and we’ll be doing everything we can to help them get back on their feet.”

On Saturday morning, a respected member of the Rochester community sadly lost his life in his backyard during the relentless weather event.

Kevin Wills, 71, who was born in the Victorian town lived with his wife on High Street for years, with the community heartbroken at the loss.

Mr Wills’ wife was also found by emergency services trapped at the property but was rescued safely.

Victoria SES has issued more than 60 flood warnings across the state, more than 100 Australian Defence Force personnel have been deployed, while around 120 schools and 100 early learning centres are closed on Monday.

The state and federal governments have prepared the Centre for National Resilience in Mickleham to provide crisis care for those needing accommodation.

The Mickleham facility will provide 250 beds from Tuesday next week for people who have lost their homes in the floods.

Residents will also receive food and other support services at the site, as well as remotely.

The Commonwealth built and owned Mickleham location recently closed as a quarantine hub, allowing it to now open its doors to flood victims.

Emergency Management Victoria, along with Emergency Recovery Victoria and Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria, are working collaboratively to set the facility up, using the existing quarantine staff and service providers to get support to those who need it quickly.

The centre will act as a hub, as residents will be supplied with free regular transport on a provided shuttle bus to the local train station and shopping centre.

Every room provided to those in need will hold toiletries and necessities, and people will be provided with three meals per day.

Local charities are working to provide items that families may have had to leave behind in the floods, such as clothing.

The federal government also made disaster assistance payments available for 44 flood affected areas across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.

In Victoria those 23 local government areas are:

Alpine
Benalla
Buloke
Campaspe
Central Goldfields
Corangamite
Gannawarra
Greater Bendigo
Greater Shepparton
Hepburn
Horsham
Loddon
Macedon Ranges
Mansfield
Maribyrnong
Mitchell Shire
Moira
Moonee Valley
Murrindindi
Northern Grampians
Pyrenees
Strathbogie
Wangaratta

One-off Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payments are also available in Campaspe, Greater Shepparton, Maribyrnong, Mitchell and Strathbogie.

There is $1000 per adult and $400 per child in recognition of the significant losses people in those areas have experienced due to the floods.

The state government also revealed on Sunday that Melbourne Water will conduct a review into the 3m floodwater wall around Flemington Racecourse.

It will investigate claims from frustrated residents that the racecourse managed to avoid the severe flooding because the wall pushed water into the surrounding Maribyrnong area.

“Melbourne Water will conduct a thorough review of this flood event and any impact that wall had on this flood event,” Mr Andrews said.

“And they’ll do that work at arm’s length from the government and report progress.”

Racing Victoria chief executive Andrew Jones told Channel 9 over the weekend the well had created “unintended consequences”.

“The VRC took steps to flood-protect its property 15 years ago, which it’s entitled to do. That’s obviously had unintended consequences for neighbouring residents,” he said.

“Obviously there was no intention of the VRC to cause harm. They tried to protect the spring carnival and the Melbourne Cup Carnival, which is a massively important part of Victorian life and the Victorian economy, so I think this is an unintended consequence.”