Farmers and residents along the Goulburn River brace for ‘catastrophic’ flooding

Farmers and residents along the Goulburn River fear the region could flood in the next 24 hours wiping out thousands of hectares of farmland.

Victorian farmer Rowan Kennedy is bracing for catastrophic flooding he fears will be worse than last year’s devastating floods. Picture: Mark Stewart

Victorian farmers are bracing for catastrophic flooding they fear will be worse than last year’s devastating floods.

Farmers and residents along the Goulburn River fear the region could flood in the next 24 hours wiping out thousands of hectares of farmland.

The SES have today held urgent meetings with Goulburn Murray Water to determine how much water should be released from Lake Eildon.

In an alert published on its website GMW said the lake was 96.6 per cent full with inflows during June 2023 three times the monthly average.

Local residents say mismanagement of Lake Eildon is to blame for the renewed flood threat.

“The farmers in the upper Goulburn have been pleading with GM-W to run Eildon at 88 per cent,” local Rowan Kennedy said.

“GMW have refused to operate the dam at this level, which is consistent with its statutory duty to mitigate flooding.

“If there is another catastrophic flood, the board at GMW and the Minister have to go. They were warned!”

Locals, CFA and SES battle to save Murchison from rising flood waters from the Goulburn River in 2022. Picture: David Crosling

For more than a year local farmers and business owners have been urging GMW to change its policy.

Mr Kennedy said another flood would be more catastrophic than the October 2022 flood as damage had not yet been properly dealt with.

Last year’s major flooding damaged almost 500,000 hectares of farmland across regional Victoria, leaving a damage bill in excess of $840m.

Record rainfall lashed the state, with hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops destroyed and more than 12,000 head of livestock lost.

At a meeting in June farmers met with GMW senior management and demanded the immediate daily release of 9,000 megalitres.

At that time just 1,000ML was being released each day.

In recent days GMW has been releasing 4,500ML to prepare for this week’s flood threat.

“These additional releases will be stored in Waranga Basin, downstream of Eildon, and will therefore not affect customers’ water allocations,” a GW statement said.

“Lake Eildon is currently close to full capacity. This can largely be attributed to the higher than average rainfall stemming from three consecutive La Niña events and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole.

“Last year was only the third time since records began in 1900 that a La Niña weather pattern had occurred in three consecutive years.

“Inflows to Lake Eildon during June 2023 were over three times the monthly average.”

Water minister Harriet Shing said it was a “time of extreme anxiety and distress” for communities.

“GMW has actually been calling landholders to advise them of moderate flooding,” she said.

“(They) will continue to engage with people.

“Controlled releases are being developed with options available...GMW is working really hard to minimise risk (and) damage.