Man found dead in floodwaters, Kerang residents told to leave now
Residents in Kerang are bracing for rapidly rising floodwaters while in other parts of the state there is “welcome news” with the moderated weather forecast.
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Residents in the town of Kerang have told it is too late to leave as floodwaters begin to rise.
VicEmergency warned on Wednesday afternoon residents to evacuate as they could be isolated for more than a week.
“If you are located in Kerang, it is recommended you evacuate immediately,” they said.
“If you are already prepared to leave you should do so now or be prepared to stay.”
The Patchell Bridge, a main thoroughfare out of the township, closed at 7pm for volunteers to erect a temporary levee bank.
A relief centre will be opened at Swan Hill, located at Swan Hill Basketball Stadium on Gray St.
Another centre is expected to open at Bendigo Showgrounds on Holmes Rd in Bendigo.
Daniel Andrews said a moderated weather forecast which is predicting less rain over coming days was “fantastic news”.
But the Premier warned the danger threat for many communities was still very real.
“We shouldn’t skate over the fact that there will be rain events in different parts of northern Victoria,” Mr Andrews said on Wednesday.
“They’re already highly stressed, we’ve already got a lot of water in the landscape that’s causing really significant challenges, so any rainfall is not good.
“However, this moderated forecast of much less rain is obviously welcome news.”
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Kevin Parkyn said upcoming weather didn’t appear to be as severe as last week, with widespread heavy falls predicted for Sunday now “off the table”.
“The expected rainfall over the coming days isn’t expected to be anywhere near as widespread or as intense or as heavy and as a result of that, we’re not expecting a return to major flooding,” he said.
“(But) there’s obviously major flooding occurring in the landscape at the moment.”
Mr Parkyn said forecasters remained concerned about widespread shower activity on Friday and Saturday producing rainfall totals of between 2 and 10mm.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot but it could cause some local river rises across the northern plains,” he said.
Mr Parkyn also warned that thunderstorms, which could produce falls of 30mm or more, pose a big risk to some parts of the state, particularly around north-central and northeastern Victoria.
“We’ll be watching that thunderstorm activity pretty closely and issuing warnings for more of a flash-flood risk rather than heavy rainfall over a wider area,” he added.
In the past 24 hours, 400 requests for assistance and 26 rescues were recorded across the state.
SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said the Loddon River was a “key focus” for authorities over the coming days, with an evacuation order for Kerang now live.
“We are expecting to see inundation in and around the Kerang township,” Mr Wiebusch said.
“We are expecting there’s around 50 to 60 properties that could become inundated as a result of the flooding along the Loddon River.”
Residents along the Murray River have also again been urged to have their preparations in order today.
“We’re now going to see the Murray River come into play over the next 24 hours,”’ Mr Wiebusch said.
Authorities are expecting a small number of properties to be impacted as a result of the Murray River bursting its banks.
The river is expected to reach a level somewhere between 95 to 95.2 metres on Friday – a level that will exceed the 1993 flood of 94.8 meters.
The Andrews government on Wednesday unveiled a $73.5 million package to deliver financial support to farmers and small business owners impacted by the flood emergency.
A one-off $10,000 payment will be given to farmers to assist with the clean up, while primary producers can also claim up to 50 per cent of transport costs – up to $15,000 – for transport costs to move livestock, emergency fodder or drinking water.
Small businesses directly impacted by the crisis will be eligible for a one-off payment of $5000 to begin the clean up effort and return to their feet.
Mental health and wellbeing hubs, which were stood up during the pandemic to support extra demand, will receive a $1.5m funding boost in the worst-affected areas across regional Victoria and Melbourne’s west.
Another $2m will be put towards community mental health organisations.
Mr Andrews said more financial assistance would be rolled out in the coming days and weeks.
“I just want to stress – these are initial payments, there will be more but the certainty of knowing that this is available hopefully will be a comfort and provide some immediate benefit,” he said.
Victorians are able to donate to flood recovery efforts via: givit.org.au/storms-and-flooding
It comes after a man was found dead in floodwaters in northern Victoria.
Loved ones raised the alarm when the 65-year-old did not return home on Tuesday night.
The 65-year-old’s last known whereabouts was on a tractor on a Blacksmiths Rd property in Nathalia on Tuesday afternoon.
Emergency services started a search after concerns were raised for his welfare when he failed to return home about 10pm.
“A search overnight found the unoccupied tractor in floodwaters,” a police statement said.
Sadly a relative found the man’s body in floodwaters on Paynes Rd about 8.45am on Wednesday.
The exact circumstances surrounding the death are yet to be determined but it is not being treated as suspicious.
Victoria Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Nathalia is about 240km north of Melbourne and has a population of about 2000 people.
The man is Victoria’s second flood victim.
Kevin Wills was found in the backyard of his Rochester home on Saturday morning.
Widespread flooding forces road closure
Hundreds of Victorian roads are closed due the widespread flooding which has ravaged the state.
There are 423 roads which are closed with some of the major closures including: the Calder Highway between Wedderburn and Wycheproof, the Murray Valley Highway between Kerang and Mystic Park, and Nathalia Road between Numurkah and Nathalia in Katamatite.
Authorities say the areas of concern are Echuca, Barmah, Rochester, Bunbartha, Shepparton, Mooroopna, Orrvale, Kialla West, Murchison, Kerang, Boort and Wedderburn.
“The road network has suffered significant damage with large potholes and sections of road destroyed,” the Department of Transport said in an update.
“Crews right across Victoria have mobilised and have assessed more than 1000 roads and have already repaired 30,000 potholes – however significant damage remains.”
More than 400 Department of Transport representatives are continuing twice a day inspections of the road network. Victorians have been urged to avoid unnecessary travel where possible and obey signage that is in place.
Race against clock in Echuca
A community meeting in Echuca on Wednesday was told the Murray River would peak late Friday or early Saturday.
It comes as work continued throughout the night to build up the height of existing flood levees around the town, and to build a massive new levy around the eastern side.
On Wednesday, trucks continued to deliver loads of dirt, which were being compacted by excavators, with the new levee seeming to be nearing completion.
It comes as armies of volunteers and emergency services continue to pack and stack tens of thousands of sandbags a day to protect homes, businesses and infrastructure.
The meeting was told the Murray River peak would coincide with more heavy rain forecast from later this week.
Between 40 and 60ml of rain is expected to drench Echuca between Friday and Sunday.
“There is now a massive risk of rainwater inside the levee and the risk of us drowning ourselves from the inside,” an Emergency Management Victoria spokesperson said.
He said work was now be undertaken to come up with a strategic plan to mitigate the new risk being posed by rainwater, including where to place pumps to pump it back outside the levees.
Victoria Police Superintendent Paul Bertoncello told attendees to take a rest in the next few days, with “a lot of work” still to come.
He said water police would be deployed to the area in coming days as a precaution, but implored the community to act according to the evacuation warnings in still in place.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
The tight-knit community of Echuca was on Tuesday night racing against the clock to save the town, with a controversial 2m-high wall constructed in a last-ditch effort to protect its centre from rising waters.
But as residents nervously awaited the Murray River’s peak, Echuca became a town divided, with the 2.5km dirt levee leaving one residential pocket cut off.
The river has continued to rise at Echuca and Moama, while heavy flows from the Goulburn and Campaspe rivers threaten to move into the area.
With major flooding expected to saturate the border towns from Wednesday and fears river levels could exceed those experienced in Echuca during the 1993 floods, emergency management ordered the construction of the levee.
Echuca mayor Chrissy Weller said the structure was necessary to protect the town, despite concerns the “great wall” will force those on the other side to fight the rampaging waters alone.
Bureau of Meteorology’s Dean Narramore said fresh rains across northern Victoria and New South Wales would put renewed pressure on flood-affected communities.
“We are going to see a lot of hit-and-miss kind of storms,” he told the ABC on Wednesday morning.
Mr Narramore said another rain band was likely to hit early next week across Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
“There are a lot of rains and storms on the way and residents and communities in flood-affected areas really need to stay up to date,” he said.
“The concern now is that only little amounts of rain is going to lead to rises. The last few events we have had 50 to 150mm widespread but now 25 to 50mm widespread over a couple of days is likely to lead to quite major increases in a lot of our rivers.
51 warnings and 21 incidents are active across Victoria as of 7.30am on Wednesday.
Three emergency warnings urging residents to evacuate immediately remain in place for Echuca, Barmah and Bunbartha.
It is feared river levels in Echuca and Moama may exceed the 94.77m which were recorded in the 1993 floods.
Major flooding is continuing in Shepparton, with residents urged to move to higher ground if they haven’t already.
Flood warnings remain in place for other towns along the Goulburn, Campaspe, and Loddon Rivers.
‘Potentially a one-in-1000-year event’
An Emergency Management Victoria spokesman warned the flood crisis was “potentially a one-in-1000-year event”.
“I’m not sugar-coating this, this is serious,” he said.
Residents stuck in the pocket of houses on the other side of the levee told the Herald Sun they felt “dejected, vulnerable and abandoned”.
Moama St resident Myles Boal, who lived through the 2011 floods, said he had accepted his house would likely be inundated if the river swelled to the level predicted.
“We are fending for ourselves,” he said.
“What can you do? You think you’ve done enough but then they predict something else and you’re buggered.”
Premier Daniel Andrews warned the crisis was “far from over” with even more rain forecast over the coming days.
“There’s still some very serious challenges for us to rise to over these coming days,” he said. “We are going to see more rain. We’ve still got many thousands of people with homes full of water, others who can’t go back because they have left and are now cut off from their home.”
Thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to lash the state’s north from Wednesday afternoon before extending further south, with falls of up to 50mm on Thursday. As much as another 50mm of rain could hit the state’s northeast on Friday.
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Michael Efron said while the rainfall would not be as heavy or widespread as last week, “those sorts of amounts could lead to flash flooding but also lead to river rises as well”.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp urged those in at-risk areas to closely follow the warnings.
“There is going to be risk in our state from the middle of the week onwards … It’s an opportunity now for communities that have not been impacted (to prepare),” he said.
As the clean-up begins in many parts of the state, the Australian Defence Force will double the number of boots on the ground, from 200 to 400 people. Two Army Chinook helicopters will also be deployed to flood-affected regions.
Brigadier Matt Burr said army personnel would focus their efforts on Echuca, Shepparton, Mooroopna, Rochester and Seymour, helping with preparatory works, moving people and delivering supplies.
Since the flood emergency began in Victoria, the SES and emergency services have received 7000 calls for assistance. Of those, 700 were for people needing to be rescued from flood waters.
“So 10 per cent of the work of the SES and emergency services has been rescuing people in situations that are very much preventable,” Commissioner Crisp said.
In scenes reminiscent of the panic buying at the beginning of the pandemic, Coles in Shepparton was quickly cleared of many essential items on Tuesday, including veggies, eggs and milk.
But acts of kindness were on show across the Goulburn Valley on Tuesday, as local businesses provided food and water to flood-affected residents and travellers now living at the showgrounds.
Numurkah resident Steve Newham said the thought of more rain was “daunting.”.
“This is devastating already, more rain to come is worrying, especially for those who are just outside the current danger zone,” he said.
Families affected by the flood emergency will be able to send their children to kinder for free in term four. And with written VCE exams due to begin next week; students directly affected by the crisis will automatically be offered derived exam scores.
Eighty-one schools and 56 early learning centres are closed because of the floods.
A derived score is used in special circumstances to ensure that, if any extenuating circumstances affect a student’s exam period, their final result reflects the level of achievement that would be expected, based on the student’s work over the year.
A hotline has been set up for schools and VCE students hit by the floods, open daily from 8am to 10:30pm.
Call 1800 717 588 or email 2022VCE@education.vic.gov.au
Facility’s invisible residents
The Mickleham quarantine facility, which has been repurposed to house flood victims, was set to welcome its first residents on Tuesday night.
The centre’s management on Tuesday afternoon told the Herald Sun that no one had turned up yet, despite Premier Daniel Andrews stating that “a handful” of people had arrived.
It’s understood up to 10 people were due to arrive.
Mr Andrews said “a number of others” had expressed an interest to move onsite.
Read the full story here.
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