Victoria Floods 2022: Kerang residents warned to expect weeks of isolation
It's now too late to leave Kerang, emergency services say as they urge residents to shelter in place with major roads damaged by flood waters.
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Residents remaining in Kerang have been told to brace for floodwaters to isolate the town for more than a week.
The town of about 3,700 people, to the north-west of Echuca, has been under evacuation orders since Sunday, but on Wednesday advice changed to say it was now too late to leave.
River levels reached 77.42m AHD at 6am on Thursday - Just shy of the moderate flood level - but emergency services say the Loddon River is continuing to rise.
Levels at the Murray Valley Hwy bridge may reach above 78m on Friday.
“Flood water is anticipated to be similar to the January 2011 floods at Kerang and surrounds,” VicEmergency advised on Wednesday evening.
Much of the town is expected to be protected by Kerang’s 17km of levees, but the concern for authorities is the isolation of the town.
The State Emergency Service expects 50 to 60 properties outside the levee could be flooded on Thursday and Friday.
#vicfloods The Loddon River falling at Newbridge as flood waters continue downstream. pic.twitter.com/HFXcU6OApp
— Liam_Beatty (@LiamBeatty3) October 17, 2022
Gannawarra Shire acting chief executive Geoff Rollinson said the town was expected to be cut off from the rest of Victoria after floods inundate and damage roads.
“Kerang will be completely cut off except by air on the weekend,” he said.
“That’s what they’re preparing for.”
Earlier this week, the community was warned flood waters were expected to remain elevated for longer than the 2011 flood event which saw Kerang isolated for more than a fortnight.
Local SES incident controller Les Vearing said infrastructure put in place after the 2011 flood was expected to reduce impact on homes.
“We are fairly confident that there won‘t be too many houses flooded, it’s the isolation,” he said.
Earlier in the week, a SES representative told Kerang residents to prepare to be isolated for up to two weeks.
A representative of Kerang District Health told residents to consider leaving if they had health concerns.
“We’ve have been through this before as a community and we will again, we just need to look after each other,” she said.
“If you can’t survive without access to heath services for two weeks, it might be a good idea to consider your options.”
Victoria Police have advised officers from the North West Metro division of Melbourne are being deployed to Kerang to assist in the flood response.
22 police members have been deployed to Kerang to assist with flood efforts.
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) October 17, 2022
Fourteen Public Order Response Team (PORT) officers and two members from North West Metro Region were picked up from Essendon this morning, following six members who headed north by road last night. pic.twitter.com/bmfs4r7eL7
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts about 35mm to 50mm of rain will fall across Victoria in the coming days, with up to 80mm in isolated areas.
At a community meeting in Kindrook on Wednesday, SES’s Mark Cattell said the impact from the rain is “not likely to get anywhere what we’ve already received”.
He said the SES had received over 7000 calls across Victoria with about 2500 requests for assistance so far in the Loddon Valley.
The meeting heard flood waters converging at the Murray River would result in a flood event exceeding the October 1993 flood with the peak expected to arrive in Echuca on October 21.
Residents were advised flood waters travelling along the Murray River can take between three and eight days to reach Kerang.
“There’s a lot of work being done to shore up the Murray (River),” Mr Cattell said.
Emergency relief centres have been set up in Swan Hill and Bendigo.
Shelves at Woolworths Kerang have been stripped bare by residents seeking to prepare and trading hours have been reduced to 10am to 3pm.
Around Kerang, flooding is not expected to impact Cohuna and Kindrook, while concerns have been raised the Torrumbarry levy may fail, possibly resulting in flooding around Gunbower, Leichville and Pyramid Hill.
Meanwhile, about 100km south in Charlton, Buloke Shire Mayor Daryl Warren has welcomed offers of clean-up help from local governments across Victoria, saying it’s an example of the “good old Aussie way”.
Mr Warren visited Charlton on Monday after the northwest Victorian town was hit by flooding on Sunday.
He said the town appeared to have avoided much of the damage earlier predicted but noted the clean up effort will likely take weeks.
“Already we’ve had offers from other local government areas that wern’t affected to send help our way,” he said.
“We’ve got a small workforce and the big issue is we can already see they’ll be exhausted soon. It’s great to see offers come in from places like Hobsons Bay in Melbourne who really supported us after the 2011 flood.”
The flooding event is expected to remain for three to five days.
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