‘Disgusting’ flood acts as 34,000 homes remain in danger

The “disgusting” acts of some people during Victoria’s floods has been revealed as authorities warn the threat is not over.

Hamish Spence and Isabel McMillan

9 min read

October 17, 2022 - 4:08PM

NCA NewsWire

The 'best of our spirit' on show amid flooding

The “disgusting” behaviour of some Victorians during the state’s floods has emerged as 34,000 homes across the state deal with the threat of being flooded or isolated.

Police are investigating an incident in Melbourne where a Maribyrnong home was allegedly looted while its occupants were away, while emergency services workers reportedly had their cars broken into in Ballarat.

Shepparton residents are continuing to be bombarded with floodwater, while other areas start the clean-up process following last week’s monster deluge.

The Goulburn River peaked at 12.06m on Monday morning. Around 4000 homes and businesses in Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla are isolated or inundated, while potentially up to 7300 properties are in danger of being surrounded or filled with floodwater.

Victorian emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said 56 requests for rescues were made in those areas overnight on Sunday, with some yet to be undertaken.

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Dean Narramore said several river catchments were expected to peaked on Monday.

Piles of flood-damaged furniture line Clyde St in Maribyrnong after recent flooding. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

“On the Avoca River around the Charlton area, it looks like it will peak around 8m today with major floods that will cause some issues there today,” he told the ABC.

“Moving further eastwards, we’re looking at major flooding continuing and it will for a number of days on the Campaspe and the Goulburn River.

“We’ll see the floodwaters peak in Echuca and Moama, similar to the 1993 levels.

“Shepparton as well looking to peak sometime later today or into tonight similar to the levels of 1974, so it’s going a long way back.

“There’s a massive amount of water on the Goulburn right now and that all feeds into the Murray River, so we’re concerned for Echuca and Moama in the coming days.”

But he warned more heavy rainfall had “unfortunately” been forecast for later in the week, with up to 50mm potentially hitting already flood-affected areas like Echuca and Shepparton.

“Not good news for our flood-affected areas … looking at widespread 25-50mm falls over much of inland NSW, northern Victoria and Queensland,” Mr Narramore said.

“This is a lot less than what we saw, but with everything now so wet and saturated, this is going to lead to renewed river level rises on many of our already flooded rivers.

Up to 25mm of rain is expected later in the week. Picture: Rob Leeson.

As of 5.20am on Monday, there were 63 flood warnings across Victoria. Picture: Vic Emergency

“Particularly as we get in towards that Thursday and Friday timeframe … we could see quite a few severe thunderstorms through inland areas across multiple days later this week and into the weekend.”

Mr Narramore also said “it could be a while” until the rain let up for residents in Australia’s east.

“It looks like we will get a brief break over the weekend Sunday and Monday, but there is another system hot on its heels as we move into early parts of next week,” he told the Today show.

“This wet pattern continues to bring widespread flooding across eastern Australia.”

Federal Emergency Management Minister Senator Murray Watt said Victoria was facing “a very serious situation”.

“The reports I’m getting, we could be looking at up to 9000 homes inundated in northern Victoria and potentially close to about 34,000 homes in Victoria either inundated or isolated,” he told the ABC.

Residents of Clyde St in Maribyrnong begin the clean-up. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

The Jetty near the Anglers Tavern in Maribyrnong. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Mr Crisp said around 300 to 400 homes had been inundated with floodwater in Echuca, while around 1000-2000 properties could come under pressure from Tuesday when the Murray River peaked.

In Rochester, Victoria SES believe around 85 per cent of the township has been inundated.

“I had the opportunity to fly over Rochester yesterday. To be frank, it’s depressing, there’s water everywhere,” Mr Crisp told the ABC.

“We’ll work with, stand with, and support the community of Rochester and we’ll be doing everything we can to help them get back on their feet.”

On Saturday morning, a respected member of the Rochester community lost his life in his backyard during the relentless weather event.

Kevin Wills, 71, who was born in the Victorian town, lived with his wife on High St for years, with the community heartbroken at the loss.

Mr Wills’ wife was also found by emergency services trapped at the property but was rescued safely.

Kevin Wills’ body was found in the Rochester flood.

Victoria Police is investigating an incident where a Maribyrnong home was allegedly looted on Monday morning.

Around three men were reportedly spotted, with one of them allegedly entering the Burton Crescent property about 7am and stealing the owner’s personal belongings before they all fled in a blue Ford Territory.

The man was wearing high-vis clothing, a beanie and face covering at the time.

Senator Watt described the alleged crime as “un-Australian”.

“That is just un-Australian behaviour, it is nothing short of that,” he told the Today show.

“I met people in the last couple of days who have lost everything and are really traumatised, so to have looting happen on top of that is completely unacceptable.”

Maribyrnong residents clean up their flooded and destroyed belongings. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Mr Crisp said the alleged theft was an example of the “absolute worst” behaviour of people during a crisis.

“During emergencies such as this, we see the absolute best in behaviour across all of our Victorians. Sadly, we also see the absolute worst in behaviour,” he said.

Maribyrnong MP Bill Shorten called the looters alleged actions “disgusting”.

“Having walked around those streets, the fact that someone could look at a flood-damaged house and think they can just help themselves is really despicable,” he told 3AW.

Mr Andrews also condemned the behaviour as “really poor”.

“During these very difficult times, we see the best of the Victorian spirit. People looking out for each other, people doing quite extraordinary things,” he said.

“And then we see some other behaviour that is really, really poor.”

Victorian Ambulance Union Danny Hill also revealed paramedics and ambulance workers allegedly had their cars broken into in Ballarat after working the Saturday nightshift.

“Disgusting behaviour,” he said.

After a busy Saturday nightshift answering emergency calls, our members come outside to find over 20 cars have been broken into in the ESTA carpark in Ballarat.
Disgusting behavior.
— Danny Hill (@DannyHill_VAU) October 17, 2022

Victoria SES has issued more than 60 flood warnings across the state, more than 100 Australian Defence Force personnel have been deployed, while 71 schools and 100 early learning centres are closed on Monday.

Around 359 roads are closed throughout the state and more than 1800 people are still without power due to unplanned outages in the Mooroopna area.

Additional ADF aviation support will arrive in the state from Tuesday.

The SES has been involved in more than 650 flood rescues and received 6000 requests for emergency assistance over the last week.

The state and federal governments have prepared the Centre for National Resilience in Mickleham to provide crisis care for those needing accommodation.

The Mickleham facility will provide 250 beds from Tuesday next week for people who have lost their homes in the floods.

Residents will also receive food and other support services at the site, as well as remotely.

The ADF has been deployed in flood-affected areas. Picture: David Crosling

The commonwealth built and owned Mickleham location recently closed as a quarantine hub, allowing it to now open its doors to flood victims.

Emergency Management Victoria, Emergency Recovery Victoria and Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria are working collaboratively to set the facility up, using the existing quarantine staff and service providers to get support to those who need it quickly.

The centre will act as a hub, as residents will be supplied with free regular transport on a provided shuttle bus to the local train station and shopping centre.

Every room provided to those in need will hold toiletries and necessities, and people will be provided with three meals per day.

Local charities are working to provide items that families may have had to leave behind in the floods, such as clothing.

Emergency relief has been offered by the state and federal governments. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

The federal government also made disaster assistance payments available for 44 flood-affected areas across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.

In Victoria those 23 local government areas are:

Alpine
Benalla
Buloke
Campaspe
Central Goldfields
Corangamite
Gannawarra
Greater Bendigo
Greater Shepparton
Hepburn
Horsham
Loddon
Macedon Ranges
Mansfield
Maribyrnong
Mitchell Shire
Moira
Moonee Valley
Murrindindi
Northern Grampians
Pyrenees
Strathbogie
Wangaratta

One-off Australian government disaster recovery payments are also available in Campaspe, Greater Shepparton, Maribyrnong, Mitchell and Strathbogie.

There is $1000 per adult and $400 per child in recognition of the significant losses people in those areas have experienced due to the floods.

More than 11,000 applications have been submitted for the one-off emergency payments.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a $351m package on Monday to assist flood-affected regional areas.

A big chunk of that ($165m) will go towards performing emergency road repairs, with crews already fixing around 10,000 potholes in the last few days.

Another $150m went towards an immediate and co-ordinated cleaning-up effort in the areas hardest hit by the weather.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announces the $351m package Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Owners of uninsured properties can also access up to $42,250 to help pay for cleaning up, repairs, rebuilding and replacing household contents.

A further $15m will deliver counselling, practical assistance and advice for business owners whose livelihoods have been affected by the floods.

Mr Andrews said the $165m to fix roads was “new” money and “over and above” what was previously in the budget.

He said he would have more to say on affected students, particularly those sitting year 12 exams, and animal welfare on Tuesday.

Melbourne Water will investigate the concerns. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The state government also revealed on Sunday that Melbourne Water would conduct a review into the 3m floodwater wall around Flemington Racecourse.

It will investigate claims from frustrated residents that the racecourse managed to avoid the severe flooding because the wall pushed water into the surrounding Maribyrnong area.

“Melbourne Water will conduct a thorough review of this flood event and any impact that wall had on this flood event,” Mr Andrews said.

“And they’ll do that work at arm’s length from the government and report progress.”

Racing Victoria chief executive Andrew Jones told Channel 9 over the weekend the wall had created “unintended consequences” for nearby residents during the floods.

“The VRC took steps to flood-protect its property 15 years ago, which it’s entitled to do. That’s obviously had unintended consequences for neighbouring residents,” he said.

“Obviously, there was no intention of the VRC to cause harm. They tried to protect the spring carnival and the Melbourne Cup Carnival, which is a massively important part of Victorian life and the Victorian economy, so I think this is an unintended consequence.”

Flemington Racecourse avoided serious flooding. Picture: David Caird

Maribyrnong Mayor Anthony Tran said his more immediate concern was dealing with the impacts of the flood rather than worrying about what might have contributed to it.

“I‘m glad the relevant authorities are having a look at it,” he told the ABC.

“For us, the question is not what could have happened but what did happen. This is reality and the facts we’re facing.”

A deadline has not been set for when the review will finish.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said too many people were still not following emergency advice and evacuating when they needed to.

“Yesterday when I was in the chopper over Rochester with the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, we watched just incredulously two cars going through what was clearly a flooded road up to the window level,” he said on Monday.

“That makes no sense. Do not take a risk. If it’s flooded, forget it, as simple as that.”

Drivers in the state’s north have been urged to slow down, with the Bohollow Wildlife Shelter saying frightened animals are heading towards the roads.

“Please, please slow down to 40km on the causeway between Shepparton and Mooroopna,” they wrote on Facebook.

“Our wildlife is being pushed out by rising river and creek waters and roos in particular have nowhere to go but onto the roads and into the towns.

A soaked and muddied kangaroo that was rescued in the Greater Shepparton area. Picture: Bohollow Wildlife Shelter

“They are frightened, wet and exhausted. Please be considerate of their plight.

“We are doing everything we can to help but slowing down, being mindful and understanding that our wildlife are struggling in these conditions makes a huge difference to them.”

The Victorian Department of Health also sent out a warning on Sunday for bacterial outbreaks like Leptospirosis that can occur following flooding events.

“Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, cough and sore throat,” it said.

“If you believe you are infected, see your GP as soon as you can.”