Two million litres of milk at risk as flood cuts power to Bega

Bega Cheese is working to salvage 2 million litres of milk after rising floodwaters in central Victoria cut off power to its Tatura facility in the Goulburn Valley region.

Bega’s Tatura facility, which primarily creates products for export such as cream cheese and skim milk powder, has been attempting to shift as much milk as possible to nearby processors after power was cut off at 4am on Sunday.

A car caught in the floodwaters on the Goulburn valley Highway in Seymour. Credit: Jason South

“We’ve got a lot of milk at that site we’re really concerned about,” said Bega nutritionals and ingredients executive general manager Hamish Reid.

“If we don’t process that in the next 48 hours somewhere else, it’s likely it will no longer be suitable for its intended purpose.”

Bega is scrambling to move milk to different sites after flooding cut off power to its Tatura facility.

Some power has returned to the Tatura site, which employs around 350 people, but only in a limited capacity, he said.

The dairy processor is in the process of moving as much of the 2 million litres of milk to its Koroit facility in south-west Victoria, which is about five hours away from Tatura.

If power is fully restored by Tuesday evening, Bega will process some of the milk on site. However, it still needs to move the bulk of milk to Koroit.

Many Bega employees in the area have had their homes and properties damaged by the flooding, Reid added. Farmers who supply milk to Bega are also experiencing power outages that prevent them from accessing their farms or collecting milk.

“This not only has an impact on our manufacturing facility but our suppliers and employees too,” Reid said. “At the moment, many are not able to be at home, which are essentially underwater.”

Thousands of Victorians have been warned they may be cut off by floodwaters for up to a week, with many roads in Shepparton closed off from the flooding.

Bega has a factory in Strathmerton, roughly an hour north of Shepparton, that has not been significantly impacted by the flooding.

Reid commended Powercor for their support in trying to bring power back to the area. At the time of publishing, the electricity distribution network’s website showed ongoing outages around Swan Hill, Shepparton, Rochester, and Winchelsea, about half an hour from Geelong.

“I compliment the effort they’re making to restore power to the region,” Reid said.

The outage in Tatura is estimated to be restored at 6pm Saturday, according to Powercor’s website.

Powercor live outages map, Victoria, 18 October 2022.Credit: Powercor/SMH

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