Grapevine wine and music festival cancelled after wild weather lashed Victoria

The much-anticipated Grapevine music festival has been called off after wild weather lashed the state, causing concerns over flash flooding.

A much-anticipated Yarra Valley wine and music festival has been cancelled after wild weather lashed Victoria over the past 24 hours.

In a statement released on Saturday morning, Grapevine Gathering organisers said the roads surrounding Rochford Wines were flooded and unsafe for revellers.

“Overnight we have experienced even more rainfall, and as a result, we, together with the authorities, have deemed Grapevine Gathering Victoria unsafe to go ahead,” they said.

“Whilst the main festival arena is holding up okay, the roads leading into the site as well as the car and bus parking areas are currently underwater, meaning we are unable to safely get cars or buses in and out of the event.

“We have explored alternatives for offsite parking and transportation for patrons onto site, however with the volume of attendees we were expecting, even getting smaller vehicles onto site is deemed a safety risk.

“Furthermore, our emergency evacuation points are all underwater, meaning we could not safely evacuate if any emergency were to occur.”

Flooding at Grapevine music and wine festival. Picture: Supplied

The organisers said they were devastated about cancelling the event, hours before it was meant to begin.

“We are deeply sorry this news has come at the final hour, we appreciate many of you have had travel plans and arrangements locked in for some time,” they said.

“Not only is this a devastating blow for all of our beloved pinot pals who were gearing up for a day in the vines, but also to the local community who will miss out on millions of dollars injected into the region, all our suppliers such as vendors who had already stocked up on food, security, ticketing staff, production teams and more who have been deep in preparation for today’s festivities.

“We ask you to please bear with us while we work through next steps, and we will be back with more information on refunds as soon as possible.”

The organisers said they were devastated about cancelling the event hours before it was to begin. Picture: Supplied

The talented line-up included The Kooks, Peking Duk, The Veronicas and Ball Park Music with The Inspired Unemployed set to host the event.

In a statement, Peking Duck said they were heartbroken for their fans and the music festival industry.

“We have been hit by fires, the pandemic, staff shortages and beyond,” they said.

“Everyone was holding out for this one, but now it’s the floods.

“To say that the hard working teams that come together to put on a music festival can’t catch a break would be a huge understatement.

“To say we are heartbroken for the fans who have created plans, dedicated time, dedicated energy and put aside money to come to a festival after so many before being cancelled is an understatement.

“Touring and playing songs to crowds that are singing along and dancing their hearts out is the reason we do what we do.

“The days leading into a show are filled with such excitement and anticipation of the joy that is to come from playing new songs, old songs, unreleased songs and seeing the crowd react is something hard to describe but something that gets ripped away when a show is cancelled.”

This is what people in the Craigieburn area are waking up to. Police, SES and traffic management crews remain on scene as there are still concerns a dam will collapse. Parts of Mickleham road will likely stay closed today. @[e-mail]/Dyshsg8IkG

— Izabella Staskowski (@IzaStaskowski) October 7, 2022

It comes as Craigieburn residents woke up on Saturday to streams in suburban streets and gardens, with the area bracing for the breakage of a private dam wall.

The dam had been spilling over on Friday due to high rainfall with emergency services fearing it would collapse.

A community warning was issued for the area and Mickleham Rd remained closed with police and SES onsite, managing traffic and environmental risks.

Across the rest of the state, SES received a hefty 491 requests for help in the past 24 hours with emergency services working tirelessly to already clear 484 of those callouts.

The most severe flood warning was Loddon River in the Bendigo region, with a watch and act warning issued for residents.

Major flooding has occurred at multiple points along the Loddon, with rainfall totals between 30mm and 70mm since Thursday afternoon.

A car drives through floodwaters in South Melbourne. Picture: Jason Edwards

Bureau of Meteorology said the primary weather risks have migrated to the eastern side of Victoria, potentially threatening Gippsland regions with further rain and storms.

Melbourne is expecting only 10mm of rain on Saturday, with the wet weather further drying up for the remainder of the weekend.

It comes as senior meteorologist Michael Efron said thunderstorm activity over parts of western Victoria had led to a “month’s worth of rain” falling in just an hour on Friday.

Mr Efron said that some areas in Avoca and Maryborough had received 50 to 65mm of rain from 9am.

“In Melbourne City itself we’ve seen around half the October average falling in just an hour,” he said.

Some Melbourne suburbs had received 30mm of rain over a period of 20 minutes, prompting over 600 emergency calls.

Floodwater at the Maryborough-Dunolly Rd in Dunolly. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

Victoria State Emergency Service chief officer of operations Tim Wiebusch said Frankston and Bayside suburbs were the areas requiring the most assistance.

SES warned residents to stay indoors, placing a flash flooding watch and act notice on the areas.

“If you are located in Frankston, you are in danger,” they said.

“You should immediately move indoors, away from floodwater. Do not enter floodwater.”

Mr Wiebusch stressed the most disappointing incidents involved people attempting to drive into floodwaters.

“We know the single largest cause of death during flooding is people attempting to drive through floodwaters,” he said.

“Driving on flooded roads is dangerous, as it only takes 15cm of water for your car become unstable, lose traction, or wash away.”

Roads were closed and families were cut off at Dunolly in central Victoria.

Melburnians Paul McVitty and Clare Mullen had to be shown the way out by a CFA volunteer after the route they hoped to take was interrupted by floodwaters from the Bet Bet Creek.

Water across Clarendon St in Southbank. Picture: David Crosling

Meanwhile, Bureau of Meteorology’s rain radar crashed for multiple hours on Friday while wild weather battered the state.

The fault was blamed on “technical and equipment problems” with Melbourne’s 128km and 256km radar loop impacted on the agency’s website and app.

“This radar is currently out of service,” a statement read.

“Bureau technicians are working to get the radar back online.”

It comes as five people were rescued by emergency services in Amphitheatre, Murphy’s Creek and Lexton as up to 50mm of rain fell in parts of central Victoria.

Drivers of two cars stuck under the York St Bridge had a lucky escape in South Melbourne.

“Visibility was really low, so I didn’t see the water until it was too late,” one driver said.

“Once I was under the bridge, I just stopped the car and climbed out of the window.”

“The lights were flickering even though the car was off so I knew it was bad news.”

The floodwater reached the window of the white ford territory that was still stranded below the bridge on Friday afternoon.

Pedestrians wade through the flooding in Southbank. Picture: David Crosling

The deluge caused chaos at multiple Melbourne schools, with floodwaters gushing in from the ground and roofs.

Emergency crews attended St Mary’s Primary School in Ascot Vale while Hampton Park Secondary College confirmed there was a “flood event” on campus.

The extent of the damage at the schools was unknown.

Videos posted to social media showed wheelie bins floating down city streets, swept away by the fast-moving waters.

Premier Daniel Andrews said at a press conference on Friday that emergency services were prepared for more flooding that could hit the state over the next few weeks.

“National cabinet last week received a report from the bureau and from Emergency Management Australia,” he said.

“We’re going to see more significant rainfall in coming weeks and with our storage pretty well full, and the ground sodden, we’ve got some really significant flooding risks.

“So, all of our emergency services are stood up; they’re ready. And I just ask communities to keep an eye out, to listen, to be alive to those warnings because if they’re issued, they’ll be real, and we’d ask you to act on them.

“But all of our emergency services are at the ready because we know that this rain is going to continue. And we know that there’s every chance that we have flooding events.”

— Additional reporting Fergus Ellis, Julieanne Strachan and Gemma Scerri.