Rochester residents on alert for further flooding, authorities hopeful Murray River has peaked
Rochester residents are bracing for rising waters and flooding as more rain looms, while authorities hope the Murray River at Echuca has peaked.
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Embattled Rochester residents are bracing for another round of devastating floods, with renewed river rises forecast for midweek.
Water levels on Monday afternoon still sat below minor flood level in the regional town, but forecast rain has the entire town sleeping with one eye open.
VicEmergency has cautioned everyone to have their emergency plans ready and emergency kits fully stocked.
Two distinct low pressure systems are set to clash to form a “hybrid cyclone” off the east coast of Victoria, bringing heavy rainfall and possible flooding to the east of the state.
Landslide at Bacchus Marsh
Bacchus Marsh SES crews got an early wake up call Tuesday morning when they were called to a landslide at Anthony’s Cutting.
Storms in the area have kept SES crews busy in the past 24 hours, with lots of call outs especially for trees down over roads.
Most of the trees have come down in the Mount Egerton area.
The landslide has now been cleared.
Authorities hopeful Murray River has peaked
North of Victoria, the Echuca and Moama regions are wearily waiting and hoping for the river levels to recede.
The Murray River at Echuca is expected to peak about the current level during Tuesday, 94.90m, exceeding both the 1975 and the 1993 floods.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the floods peaking downstream were expected to exacerbate the current major flooding at Torrumbarry and Barham, causing additional river level rises along the Murray River.
“Further rainfall is forecast for the remainder of Monday through to Friday across parts of the Murray River Basin, which may cause renewed river level rises and flooding,” the Bureau said.
Exhausted Echuca residents continued to frantically rally on Monday night as more rain drenched the northern border town.
Authorities are hopeful the Murray River could have peaked at 94.9m above sea level at the town’s port, and will stay at similar levels for about 10 days.
The river had edged 1.8cm higher – to 94.918m – at 4pm on Monday.
The town’s massive levee was holding firm on Monday afternoon despite 34mm of rain falling in Echuca in the 24 hours to 9am.
About 180 emergency services workers, including a crew from Queensland, pumped water out of drains on the town’s “dry” side and back into the floodwaters.
Residents in the firing line on the river side of the levee in Goulburn Rd continued to pump out water and sandbagged their homes.
Moama’s Natalie Murphy, whose own home is also surrounded by sandbags, has been hunkered down for more than a week with son Riley and brother Dallas Mitchell, trying to protect her 84-year-old father’s home near the Echuca East boat ramp.
After they moved out all his furniture before the floods hit, the trio have slept on the floor in swags and rotated sleep times to monitor the situation.
Ms Murphy said she was “tired and stressed” but wanted to do all she could to protect the home her 84-year-old father built more than 50 years ago.
“We’ve got all our walls built and now it’s just a matter of if everything holds we’re flat out pumping water,” she said. “Now is the testing part to see if everything is going to hold, so it’s a bit stressful.”
Ms Murphy said family, friends and the community had provided “a power of help” in preparation for the floods.
She said neighbour Mark Lia had been “sensational” in helping her and other struggling residents in the street, and had saved at least six nearby homes with his sandbagging efforts.
A spokeswoman from Bendigo’s incident control centre – overseeing the Echuca floods – said authorities remained concerned for more than 500 homes at Echuca Village being protected by the levee.
The spokeswoman said an immediate evacuation warning remained for parts of Echuca and Echuca Village, and was likely to stay in place for the week.
The BoM was forecasting more showers and up to 6mm of rain in Echuca on Tuesday.
SES chief Tim Wiebusch warned the floods were not yet over, authorities predicting October could be the wettest on record if heavy rainfall continues into next week.
“Victoria is very much still in a flood emergency at this time,” he said.
“We’re seeing all phases of the emergency uncovering itself here in Victoria, whether that’s a preparation response and through the recovery.”
Senior meteorologist Kevin Parkin said authorities were concerned storms may develop, producing localised falls of 30 to 60mm.
“We’re expecting more rain and thunderstorm activity,” he said.
“Local heavy falls will result in flash flooding, overland flash flooding, not just in the river systems.”
In coming weeks, Swan Hill could be hit with major flooding, while minor flooding is predicted in early to mid-November in Mildura.
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