As it happened: Towns on edge as floodwaters set to peak in Rochester

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the Victorian floods, that will be it from us tonight.

We will keep you updated as the flood emergency continues to evolve throughout the state on Wednesday.

Here is a look back at some of the major news from today:

• In Seymour, about 20 properties were flooded or suffered flood damage, but the emergency evacuation warning for low-lying parts of the town has been lifted.
• In Yea, six homes were flooded and warnings for the down have been downgraded.
• Coliban Water has confirmed that the water supply in Rochester is safe to drink and the water plant remains fully operational.
• Authorities are expecting high and moderate flooding in the Shepparton and Mooroopna areas mid-week.
• SES volunteers have now responded to 1750 calls for assistance since Sunday evening, including 52 flood rescues.
• A woman in her 70s was rescued from surging floodwaters after the vehicle she was travelling in was swept off the road in the state’s north.

Thank you for joining us, and stay safe.

Earlier, the Bureau of Meteorology’s forecaster Michael Efron said the weather was becoming more settled across the state and there was “good news on the weather front” after heavy falls of about 70 to 80 millimetres across much of Gippsland late on Monday.

The senior meteorologist said a severe weather warning was cancelled for eastern Victorian, but there was a slight chance of isolated thunderstorm activity over the far north-east of the state.

As we head into Wednesday and Thursday, we are going to see those pretty settled conditions continuing with just a slight chance of some isolated showers and storms in the far east and north-east.

“We are likely to see that shower and storm activity become a little more extensive over eastern and north-eastern districts, so with that activity, we could see some heavy rainfall, but certainly not as much and not as extensive as what we have seen over the last few days.

Goulburn River Caravan Park manager Matt Borrack says he is feeling thankful as he examines cabins inundated by Monday’s floodwaters.

“We’re lucky, I reckon,” the Seymour local says as he sips from a water bottle and mops sweat from his brow. Despite record-breaking rain in nearby catchments a little more than 24 hours ago, there is no longer a cloud in the sky and the temperature is nudging 30 degrees.

Caravan park Manager Matt Borrack walks through the park on Tuesday.Credit: Darrian Traynor

“The last floods probably cost us $1.2 million plus,” he says. “We were shut for five months, so we lost income. We spent probably $800,000 plus rebuilding. And no insurance.”

Borrack is referring to October 2022, when the entire caravan park was flooded and he had to kayak from cabin to cabin to turn off gas bottles. Fast-forward 15 months, and only three cabins and one caravan have been impacted by above-floor flooding.

Floodwater at the Goulburn River Caravan Park in Seymour on Tuesday.Credit: Darrian Traynor

The damage, although minor, won’t come cheap: Borrack expects the final bill to be around the $20,000 mark. However, he and others working at the caravan park won’t know for sure until the water pooling at the back third of the property begins to seep back down stormwater pipes and back to the river bank.

The hope is to welcome back some tourists as soon as next week.

Submerged play equipment at the Goulburn River Caravan Park in Seymour.Credit: Darrian Traynor

“We’ve got no general insurance at the moment. No [caravan] parks now can get general insurance. The insurance industry has wiped their hands of parks even though they didn’t pay anyone out [in 2022]. You go, why?”

One of the cabins that was inundated on Monday had fresh flooring installed days ago. Another cabin, which also went underwater in October 2022, was still awaiting renovation.

“We hadn’t even fully reopened from the last one. [But] it’s going to be more of a general clean-up this time.”

Turning back to news about Rochester, we earlier reported SES chief Tim Wiebusch saying authorities had to turn off the water supply to the town.

“They have had to turn off the water supply to protect critical infrastructure from damage in Rochester for a short period of time.”

The State Control Centre has since clarified that Wiebusch meant to say the town’s sewerage system had to be turned off for a brief period on Monday.

Coliban Water has confirmed that the water supply in the town is safe to drink and the water plant remains fully operational.

“The water in Rochester is safe to drink,” a spokeswoman for the company said.

Instead, the company said some sewer pumps at Rochester were temporarily switched off overnight on Monday.

This was done to ensure the floodwater did not destroy the pumps electronics and to limit potential sewer interruptions.

All the sewer pump stations are operational, but some customers may experience interruptions until flood water recedes.

The emergency evacuation warning for low-lying parts of Seymour has been lifted, but residents were earlier warned about a second peak.

Victoria’s SES chief operations officer, Tim Wiebusch, said a second peak was expected in the town on Tuesday evening.

“That’s where we’re expecting it to reach 6.2 metres, yesterday the Goulburn River at Seymour reached 6.8 metres, so it is lower than what occurred yesterday,” Wiebusch said.

The VicEmergency website was updated to inform residents it was now safe to return to low-lying areas.

“It is now safe to return to the evacuated area to assess impacts as the threat is reduced. Be aware of any hazards that may still exist in the warning area,” the website says.

There will also be a community meeting on Wednesday at 4pm at the Seymour Recovery hub, the website says.

And levels in Melbourne waterways were starting to ease, SES chief Tim Wiebusch said on Tuesday.

“We’re now seeing the Dandenong Creek has dropped below the minor flood level, and roads are being reopened,” he said.

But he said there was still flooding around reserves and bike paths along the Yarra and Bunyip rivers and urged people to stay away from those.

“We would ask people to stay away from those areas, until the flood water has further receded.”

He said there was an advice message for the Mount Dandenong Tourist Roa at Ferny Creek after a landslide on Monday.

There were a number of trees that needed to be removed by specialist arborists and earthworks were needed to stabilise the area.

“It could take up to a week to stabilise that area around the landslide,” he said. Two property owners were relocated by the council last night, as a result of the landslide, he added.

Clarification: An earlier version of this post cited SES chief Tim Wiebusch as saying authorities had to turn off the water supply to Rochester. The State Control Centre has since clarified that he meant to say the town’s sewerage system had to be turned off for a brief period on Monday.

In news about Rochester, authorities had to turn off the town’s sewerage system for a brief period on Monday.

SES chief Tim Wiebusch said in “good news for Rochester residents” the Campaspe River peaked at 114.62 metres above sea level, which was below the forecast of 114.8 metres.

“We are now undertaking impact assessments in that community and an emergency warning still remains in place, being too late to leave for that particular paragon for the flooding,” he said.

“We would ask those … not from Rochester to remain away from that community at this time, until the flooding has dissipated and receded.”

He warned as the water went down the Campaspe River towards Echuca, that community could experience moderate flooding on the river.

“This will see some roads being cut and also some rural inundation occurring in that area.”

Staying with the SES chief, who says authorities are expecting high and moderate flooding in the Shepparton and Mooroopna areas mid-week.

Tim Wiebusch said a watch and act warning was now in place for the Goulburn River from Seymour through to Mooroopna and Shepparton.

“Where we are expecting to see high and moderate flooding occurring overnight Wednesday, into Thursday,” Wiebusch said.

“We are asking communities in those areas to be alert for the potential for road closures and the potential for overland flooding in some of those areas.”

He said around the Kialla and Shepparton areas there could be up to 20 properties inundated with above-floor flooding.

An additional 150 properties could potentially see flooding in their streets, or onto their properties, Wiebusch warned.

He urged people in those areas that now was the time to prepare, and to have up to three days’ worth of supplies.

SES volunteers have now responded to 1750 calls for assistance since Sunday, including 52 flood rescues.

“Overnight we saw a further two rescues – one at Bendigo and another one at Drummartin, near Rochester, where people had attempted to drive through floodwaters,” SES Victoria chief Tim Wiebusch said.

“Again, we can’t emphasise enough: do not attempt to drive through floodwaters.”

A search has been launched for a missing kayaker on the Mitchell River near Dargo after their vessel was found floating empty down the river.

“It may be that the person has safely exited the river on their own. But we are undertaking a search with emergency services at this time to confirm whether we can find anybody,” Wiebusch said.

Victoria’s SES chief Tim Wiebusch says about 20 properties in and around Seymour have been flooded.

He has just told a press conference in Melbourne that a second peak is expected at the town throughout this evening, which is tipped to reach 6.2 metres.

“We have seen around about 20 properties that have been impacted by flooding in and around Seymour,” he says.

Wiebusch has said there were four unoccupied residential properties that flooded. Those properties were last flooded in 2022, and have not been occupied since that event.

There were also seven businesses in Seymour impacted by above-floor flooding, he said.

There were three cabins at the Big Four Caravan Park and seven businesses in Seymour impacted by above-floor flooding, he said.

Another four residential properties had underfloor flooding damage in and around the stumps.

Six properties have been flooded above the floor level in Yea.