Residents fear another flood could hit Rochester

Displaced Rochester families are rebuilding their homes despite fearing another flood, with the government yet to release the cause of the 2022 disaster.

Rochester residents Fay and Shane Wolfe are nervous another flood could hit the town, and say a year is too long to wait for answers about the cause of the October disaster which destroyed their home.

The couple is living in a caravan in their own backyard six months after the flood rushed through their Northcote St property.

They need to choose a new internal paint scheme but are unenthusiastic about looking through colour brochures, with the fear of another flood hanging over them.

The couple had only just completed a renovation before the disaster dumped half a metre of water inside the house, where it stagnated for three days.

All that has remained from that renovation was a strip of tiles still fastened to the kitchen wall.

The couple had hoped to be back inside their house by Easter, but it is still an empty shell.

It comes as a Victorian parliament inquiry into the cause of the devastating floods will hold its first hearing in August, but Ms Wolfe said the wait for answers was nerve-wracking.

“We watch the water levels in Lake Eppalock and we worry that if there is a big rain event at Kyneton and the catchment area it will overflow and flood us again,” she said. “I don’t think we can really wait another year.”

Shane and Fay Wolfe in their Rochester caravan at Easter 2023, still waiting for their flood damaged home to be repaired. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

Fay Wolfe in her Rochester home, which was stripped out after the October 2022 floods. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

The state government has promised to do a technical assessment of Lake Eppalock and Lake Eildon to see whether changes could be made at those sites to prevent future floods.

Water Minister Harriet Shing said in February it would also examine “the rights of existing entitlement holders”.

“The assessment of the operating and infrastructure arrangements at Lake Eppalock is underway with findings to be released later this year,” a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

“Once complete the findings will support Campaspe Shire Council to ensure that its future planning and flood mitigation decisions are based on up to date information.”

But with data showing that Lake Eppalock is currently more than 91 per cent full and no new flood mitigation works underway,
Ms Wolfe said she feared that rebuilding her home could be pointless if the town was to flood again.

“The moisture just gets into everything, even when you’ve lifted it all up, everything in your linen press goes mouldy due to the dampness.

“That’s why you lose so much.”

Ms Wolfe and her husband had spent days preparing for the flood by laying down plastic and sandbagging their home, to no avail.

“I wouldn’t do that again. It’s hard work and it didn’t help at all, the water went right over the top of it,” she said.

Members of the community have begun to share their stories with the parliamentary inquiry into the cause of the floods via online submissions. The concerns over water infrastructure are widely held.

Resident Wayne Park wrote in his submission that Lake Eppalock needed to be changed.

“Eppalock should be used to help mitigate downstream floods,” he wrote.

“The water should be compulsorily released at night through a turbine to generate zero carbon electricity when the dam is 80 per cent full.

“This should extend to full time generation when Eppalock is 90 per cent full.

“Should big rains be predicted in the catchment then clearly more water needs to be released in advance.

“This will require changes to the dam.

“The result will be to spread the water flow down the Campaspe over a longer time period this would mean that river levels would not be as high.”