Faces of the floods: Human stories of the disaster from around the state
An elderly couple who couldn’t leave their home, rescues of the communities most vulnerable and families sticking together. These are the human stories behind the Victorian floods.
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Sirens blared across Victorian towns on Thursday night as residents were ordered to evacuate.
Heavy rains had caused rivers to flood and, despite sandbagging efforts, water had begun to seep into homes and businesses.
For the latest coverage of emergency warnings, click here
These are the stories of the Victorians affected.
Ordinary people pitch in
Shepparton’s Rum Yze, brother of former Melbourne footballer Adem, spent more than five hours making sandbags with wife Buki and son Nate on Sunday.
“We’re just playing our little part … it’s a real community effort and the flood waters are really concerning, so we’re just doing what we can to help,” Mr Yze said.
“All day it’s been constant, people coming in and collecting their sandbags.
“It’s really pleasing seeing the community spirit coming together and helping everyone to get through it.’’
Dylan McCormack had his boat on standby to rescue anyone in need.
“I’ve got my boat off my trailer ready to go, it’s literally floating at the end of the court,’’ the Shepparton man said. “It is out of our control, but what will be will be.”
“One of the houses was mine”
Marjukka Nieni, who has lived at the bottom end of the Esplanade in Maribyrnong for more than 20 years, said she had never seen water levels rise so high.
She was working as a member of the SES — beginning to doorknock other affected addresses — before she realised one of the damaged properties was her own.
“The backyard is still a swimming pool,” she said.
“It got into our garage and the studio.
“I was on night duty when I realised that one of the houses was mine.
“I started to move some things but by then, it was too late.
Markers of debris and dirt on Ms Nieni’s white front gate showed that water rose up to knee-length when the flooding peaked early on Friday.
Newly renovated home destroyed
Sebastian G’Agostino and his wife were left devastated after their newly renovated home in Maribyrnong was ravaged by floodwater.
The home, which was originally Mr G’Agostino’s family home, was quickly overrun by water on Friday morning — the family making a quick escape after the SES sounded the alarm.
“I’m devastated. I’m totally devastated,” he said.
“It’s the family’s safety that’s the most important thing but the blood sweat and tears that we put into this place and the money we put into this place, to turn into something that looks like this, to have this happened to it is just totally devastating.”
The couple had just finished renovating three weeks ago and had put a new pool in.
“We were quite proud of what we did,” he said.
But the water levels rose so fast that Mr G’Agostino and his son Sol didn’t have enough time to grab everything.
“It was either stay upstairs until this was over or get out of here and I didn’t want to get out of here,” he said.
“I wanted to understand what was going to happen to the place.”
Mr G’Agostino’s parents passed away four years ago. He couldn’t bring himself to sell the property.
“We couldn’t bring ourselves to sell it because we grew up here. So we thought you know, let’s make it ours,” he said.
“This was our haven.”
Furry friends not left behind
When the alarm was sounded on Friday morning, Oakland St resident Craig Constable and his partner Jehad grabbed their most precious belongings as they evacuated, including their puppy, Teddy.
The pair was shocked at how quickly the water was rising.
“I was looking at the window and I could see the neighbour’s yard just literally filling up … and then within maybe a minute our yard was filling up,” Mr Constable said.
“It was inundated with everything we didn’t even get cars out 10 minutes. So you tried to grab precious things, including your dog, the passports and we moved all the personal documents upstairs.”
Neighbours on the suburban street shared food and hot drinks and cuddles with Teddy, keeping their spirits high despite the destruction caused to their homes.
“I’ve lost my cafe”
As the flood waters crept up under the door of his beloved cafe on Friday afternoon, Shayne Walkley’s heart sunk. The small business he had poured so much effort into for the past 13 years was underwater.
Mr Walkley had battled, alongside staff member Maitland Bassett, for days to prepare the Moore Street eatery, Kits Kafe, so it could survive the waters.
The men had laid plastic sheets and sandbags outside and even slept on the floor in swags on Thursday night to preserve the local meeting place.
However, by about 5.30pm the power had gone out and there was about eight inches of water on the floor.
“I’ve just lost my cafe,” Mr Walkley said.
“I was here for the 2011 flood and last time I won the war, the water level just did not get this high,” he said.
About $30,000 of food in storage was left to spoil, with Mr Walkley having no choice but to call Rochester SES and ask for a boat to help him leave.
Mr Walkley said he did not hold out any hope of insurance being able to help him get his business back up and running.
The additional cost of flood coverage was $10,000 per year and he could not afford it.
He expects many other small business owners will be in the same position.
“Last time I got the business going again really quickly. But this time I’m just drawing a blank. I don’t know where to start.”
Mr Walkley’s home in Rochester was also flooding yesterday afternoon.
Fortunately his wife Brooke and their daughters Madison, 11, and Ivy, 7, were at the family’s newly finished house in Echuca on Friday night.
“I just called them and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” he said.
Families, in this together
The Hurn family enjoyed a well deserved beer together on Sunday night after an exhausting day of filling and stacking hundreds of sandbags around their business.
Emotions were high as they looked out at the rapidly rising Murray River, amid worries about how they would be affected.
Ken, Janine and Bianca Hurn have owned the Murray River Holiday Park for seven years but the last few years of that have been tumultuous— first with the covid pandemic and months of booking cancellations, and now an impending flood threat.
Mr Hurn has been preparing for the flood for about a week, since before the rain hit.
He was feeling “anxious” on Sunday, with the waters—already lapping at the edge of their property—expected to rise about another metre.
“It’s eerie and too close for comfort,” Ms Hurn said.
Despite their worries and exhaustion, their spirits had been boosted by the “amazing” community spirit on show on Sunday.
Armed with shovels, friends, family and even strangers streamed in to help them to fill sandbags and do what they could to protect their property.
She added that seeing the flood impact on nearby holiday parks along the Murray — some which have already started to flood — and in nearby communities, like Rochester, was “hard”.
“Now it’s a waiting game,” she said.
Returning home
Getting home or to survey the damage to their community wasn’t so simple for every weary regional Victorian on Friday.
Carisbrook, which was evacuated on Thursday, was one area that was particularly hard to reach from surrounding areas due to the rapidly flowing Loddon River, boosted in size by heavy rains and burst dams.
Crossing a footbridge across the river, Newstead resident Jodie Hicks had popped out to the local supermarket to stock up on food.
About half an hour later she, and dog Molly, were stranded, unable to complete the short journey back home.
The access track, local roads and parts of the Pyrenees Highway were invisible under rapidly rising floodwaters.
The heavy rain began on Thursday morning, she said, and continued throughout the day, rendering the town — between Castlemaine and Maryborough — “unrecognisable”.
“(Thursday) afternoon it got really bad and water was coming up across the bridge,” Ms Hicks said.
The town’s primary school opened its doors as a refuge centre for about six people in similar situations, and she and Molly spent the night by a heater.
On Friday she assessed the water level and said it had receded significantly, so she hoped to be able to safely cross back over at some point in the afternoon.
Rescue in Rochester
Neighbours rolled up their sleeves, took to their tractors and used boats to stage daring rescues in Rochester.
Reece Causer and Rick Windridge were among those lending a hand on Friday, helping Kate Pianta and her husband Ray and their dog Grace get out of harm’s way.
The SES said they would not be able to rescue them unless they left their dog behind.
Mr Pianta’s mobility issues and medical conditions prevented him being able to get out on foot.
In incredible rescue scenes, Mr Causer and Mr Windridge lifted him into a boat, which was then towed by a tractor for about 1km through flooded streets. When the water became too shallow to continue, the boat was pulled by hand to an SES car that took the couple and their dog to safety.
Desperate dash ahead of brain surgery
Benalla resident Sam McNamara helped her parents, Steve and Julie, escape rising waters in Arundel St at the southern end of the town, after staying overnight to help them.
The family and their young children were driven out by a friend in a tinny boat just before 9am, before heading to safety at their home in Strathbogie.
Ms McNamara said the water was at about knee height when they climbed into the tinny.
“It’s like a river running everywhere, literally, it’s quite widespread and they say it’s going to spread more,” she said.
The family sandbagged around the home and moved furniture the night before, but Ms McNamara feared her parents’ home of 10 years might go under.
“At 3.44am we got the message to leave, but it was too late, it should have been sent two hours prior, the water came up that quickly,” she said.
“It was seeping up to their veranda, and another five inches until the door.”
Mr McNamara, 59, who is preparing to head to Melbourne on Monday for brain surgery, said the flooding had come at the worst possible time.
He likened the flood water levels as similar to record-breaking floods which inundated the town in 1993.
“The backyard is like a swimming pool,” he said.
“It’s what it is, we knew it was going to get wet, but it’s wetter than what we thought.
“Now we’ve just got to try to Melbourne and do some tests before my surgery.”
River roars through caravan park
Alan Johnston has lived in the small township of Baringhup for more than 20 years.
He has seen many floods, but none so devastating as what has occurred this week.
The town’s caravan park, Loddon House Caravan Park, is situated in a quiet spot next to the normally idyllic Loddon River.
But in the past 24 hours Cain Curran Reservoir has spilt into the Loddon River, inundating the park and washing away several of the cabins.
Mr Johnston, whose property is on higher ground, said he could “hear the water roaring” on Thursday night.
“I’ve been through the last couple of floods but none of them have ever been as bad at this one,” he said.
“This is by far the worst I’ve seen. It’s devastating.”
When leaving isn’t an option
Arthur Reed and his wife Margaret are in their eighties, but chose to stay at their home of thirty years on Thursday night, despite being almost completely surrounded by flood water.
“I was sitting out on the front veranda with a friend for a long time … [thinking about] whether we were going to be all right or not,” Mr Reed said.
Mr Reed has an oxygen tank and his wife is unable to walk independently.
He said they have “no choice” but to stay at home.
“[My wife] can’t walk anywhere,” he said.
“We’ll have to stay, we can’t go nowhere.”
Damage patrol conducted by kayak
Residents in Seymour begun to venture into waters to check on flooded homes as the water level receded late on Friday morning.
Kayaks, tinnys and four wheel drives breached waters as people attempted to survey the damage before floods were due to possibly rise again.
Rush on Rochester supplies
Shelves at the Rochester IGA were stripped bare on Thursday, with residents stocking up on food as roads in and out of the town closed.
The bread aisle was empty by 2pm.
Residents were later forced to evacuate the town and the streets had turned into rivers by Thursday morning.
Quick trip to the shops ends in overnight stay
Newstead resident Jodie Hicks spent the night in a relief shelter with her dog, Molly, after flood waters rose in minutes and isolated her in the township.
She said heavy rain began on Thursday morning and continued throughout the day, rendering the town, between Castlemaine and Maryborough, “unrecognisable”.
In the short time she crossed into town to visit the supermarket, the access track to her house, other local roads and part of the Pyrenees Highway had been swallowed by floodwaters.
“Yesterday afternoon it got really bad and water was coming up across the bridge,” Ms Hicks said.
It meant she couldn’t cross back to her house and she became stranded in the town.
The town’s primary school opened its doors as a refuge centre for about six people in similar situations.
On Friday she assessed the water level and said it had receded significantly, so she hoped to be able to safely cross back over at some point in the afternoon.
A last goodbye, then hop it
As the floodwaters approached late on Thursday, parents Joel Bunce and Phoebe Cuttriss had barely slept in the past 48 hours.
But they were full of adrenaline as they packed up their car, loading sons Jack, 6, and Lenny, 3, ready to hit the road, joining hundreds of other Rochester residents in what will be one of the biggest evacuations in the town’s history.
The boys were clad in pyjamas with little suitcases in tow; Jack had his favourite toy, a bunny nicknamed Rabby, tucked under his arm. All were unsure what would survive the rising waters at home.
Ms Cuttriss said the young family had locked the doors and laid out sandbags before they left, hoping for the best.
“We have family in Moama,” Ms Cuttriss said with a brave face.
“We’re going to go and stay with them.”
The day before they evacuated, Ms Cuttriss joined hundreds of others working alongside Rochester SES to prepare the town against the approaching waters.
Strangers toiled side-by-side, shovelling sand into bags which they hope will preserve many of the town’s homes and businesses from the worst of the damage.
Water torture so familiar
In her 90-plus years, this is not the first flood that Rochester local Alice Prigg has seen.
She was there in 2011 when the floodwaters rose and says having been through it all before made her feel better prepared this time around.
“I have moved everything from the bottom of my cupboards up higher this time,” Ms Prigg told the Herald Sun while evacuating on Thursday afternoon.
With a home designed to combat flooding she is hoping for the best, especially with sandbags strategically placed around the house for added protection.
Her neighbour Naida Belot is also evacuating after police knocked on her door on Wednesday morning.
She rushed to pack bags of bedding and clothes into her car and had volunteers help to raise her mattress onto a desk, hopefully well clear of the expected torrent.
Both now face an uneasy waiting game, not knowing what they will return home to.
Terrifying waiting game
he Horsburgh family in Creswick — consisting of two adults, three children, two dogs, and a cat — was out of its home for three months after the floods in January.
They stayed in a caravan park for more than a month after the storm did $40,000 of damage to their home, and were then put up in a motel.
“It came straight through the house straight off the road,” Mr Horsburgh said.
“We’ve been asking for years for this drain to be fixed, and we gave up a few years ago.
“We’re just a little anxious about the kids.
“The young bloke, he’s five. He’s petrified now. Absolutely petrified of the rain and storms.”
On Wednesday they collected sandbags prepared by the SES, in the hope they could protect their home from flooding again.
Pictures from across the regions
Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst
Hundreds of residents gathered at the Rochester town hall on Wednesday night.
Among them was Belinda Speight who spent the day moving furniture and paperwork for her grandparents who live in Edward St.
“We’re worried,” she said.
“Nan and Pa are in their 80s and their house might flood. We have been lifting everything up to try to keep everything dry like antiques, paintings and tools,” Ms Speight said.
The emergency services represented at the meeting said it was difficult to compare the threat of this flood to a major one that affected the town in 2011.
Meanwhile, some schools around the state have opted to implement remote learning classes while the heavy rain takes place over coming days.
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