As it happened: Residents brace for worsening conditions in Echuca; evacuation warnings continue as floodwaters rise

That brings our live flood coverage to an end for today - thanks for reading along.
Here’s the current situation as it stands:

• More rain is threatening to exacerbate Victoria’s flood crisis as thousands of people in the state’s north are told they could be isolated by rising water for up to a week.

• On Monday, residents of Echuca, Charlton and Bunbartha were being told to evacuate their homes immediately. A flood peak in Kerang later in the week is expected to leave the town isolated for up to seven days.

• In Shepparton, just 15 centimetres less floodwater than feared made a crucial difference between heartbreak and relief for many, although thousands of homes remained inundated.

• Premier Daniel Andrews warned further rain would hit the already sodden ground and swollen rivers in coming days, with parts of the state facing a second flood peak later this week.

A truck pulling a semi-trailer through floodwaters outside Rochester on Monday.Credit: Narelle Fraser

A quick shout out to one of our blog readers Narelle Fraser who sent in this extraordinary photo this evening.

“I’m just out of Rochester [and] caught this semi driving thru what I could have sworn were floodwaters!! Unbelievable,” she wrote. “It was driving through the floodwaters, albiet slowly!”

On that note, please be safe out there - and do not drive through floodwaters.

My colleagues will be online again early on Tuesday morning for another day of live coverage. Keep abreast of emergency alerts overnight at https://emergency.vic.gov.au/

Goodnight.

Maribyrnong City Council director of infrastructure services Patrick Jess says experts think it is unlikely toxic substances are present in the mud that inundated hundreds of homes in the local government area over the weekend.

A huge clean-up is underway in Melbourne’s inner west, but Jess told ABC Radio Melbourne’s Drive program on Monday afternoon that “our intel suggests it’s unlikely that the soil is going to have any severe nasties in it, but nevertheless, as a precaution, we still are undertaking testing right along the river system”.

Peter Whelan cleaning the front of his house after the floods next to the Maribyrnong river on Sunday.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

The council is testing both the river water and soil, but Jess said they were not overly concerned about suggestions the water might be contaminated and that their advice is it shouldn’t be a problem.

Maribyrnong is home to a former ammunitions store known as Jack’s Magazine and a ex-munitions factory on Cordite Avenue and some residents have raised concerns about the potential for soil contamination.

Jess said, “Jack’s Magazine might have its own unique issues”, but the council was being informed that silt in people’s houses shouldn’t be a problem.

He also thanked “fantastic” neighbouring councils for pitching in by lending machinery to help remove the silt that had built up on roads and footpaths in Kensington, Flemington and Maribyrnong.

Flood victims who take up emergency accommodation at the former Mickleham quarantine facility from tomorrow will receive “wrap around” services such as grant and financial assistance, health and mental health care, pet care and children’s activities.

Premier Daniel Andrews revealed what was on offer at the hub while speaking on ABC radio’s Statewide Drive program this afternoon.

The quarantine facility opens for 250 people tomorrow, two weeks exactly after it was announced the $580 million facility would cease quarantine operations.

“We can grow to 500 [people], three meals a day [provided], health care both physical and mental, all the government supports wrapped around you”, Andrews said.

The Premier said the facility would likely be of most use to communities where sewerage, drinking water and power are shut off for weeks.

“I know people no one will want to have to relocate out of their local community, but for some people, that will be an option that they will choose.”

The Bureau of Meteorology has just taken to Twitter to try explain the two different measurements for river and flood heights it uses and which is appearing through coverage of this flooding event.

“Most river gauge heights are listed in local gauge height (i.e river height is relative to the river bed or similar),” the tweet reads.

“However, at some locations, gauge heights are listed in Australian Height Datum (AHD) instead (river height is relative to mean sea level).

“Locations like Kerang, Rochester, and Echuca – you’ll see us note river heights at these locations in AHD.”

We’ve asked few more questions about why some rivers are measured in AHD while other Australian rivers are not, we’ll let you know when we get a response.

Farmers in Echuca are banding together to shift livestock to higher grounds, while at least one dairy farmer has been forced to dump milk en masse with dairies cut off because of floodwaters.

Scott Thompson today herded 300 of his neighbour’s sheep three kilometres on foot on farmland 30 kilometres outside Echuca.

Farmer Scott Thompson herds his neighbour’s sheep along McKenzie Road outside Echuca.Credit: Scott Thompson

“There’s never been that much water there. No one can remember that much water coming through,” he said.

Thompson, a dairy farmworker, said produce had to be dumped due to the flood crisis.

“My boss has dumped three days of milk down the drain because he can’t get his milk tankers in, but the cows have still gotta be milked,” he said.

Flooded farmland outside Echuca.Credit: Scott Thompson

Large numbers of livestock have been displaced, with community members trying to assist one another with dry property, Thomson said.

“You sort of gotta make sure you know what farmers are getting through too, it’s not just town people,” he said.

Our regional editor Benjamin Preiss has penned a chilling account of his experience in the town of Rochester the last few days:

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We called it the “Silicone Line of Rochester”, even though it was just a seal over an air vent about 30 centimetres above the ground at our motel.

Yet, the line came to symbolise much more – a marker of the flood’s intensity when the murky water surged above it and a trigger for celebration when it re-emerged later.

The north Victorian town was engulfed in disaster during my five days there – pelting rain followed by torrents raging in the streets that swept into homes and left thick sludge behind.

Rochester Motel owner Matt Keating watches the flood outside.Credit: Justin McManus

But that was long enough to feel momentarily entwined with the community – a bond shared by surviving the worst floods in memory together.

When Age photographer Justin McManus and I arrived, Rochester Motel owner Meagan Keating assured us her place had remained dry in the 2011 floods.

It would take a calamity to exceed that event.

But at 5.18pm the next day, my phone pinged with a message from an unknown number warning floods would hit up to 450 properties.

“Any person located in Rochester or the surrounding area should EVACUATE NOW,” the message read.

I fought the urge to panic, but we had an important job to do, so we stayed. And then we went to the pub.

Over dinner, Justin and I decided we had a duty to report on the people who were leaving or staying, and then make our own plans.

Read the whole piece here.

More bad news for the rural town of Rochester tonight: an updated emergency alert for the area released a few minutes ago reports the town’s sewerage system could be out of order for two months.

“The sewerage system has been impacted. It may take 6-8 weeks to restore services,” the latest alert reads.

“These assessments will continue for the coming days. It continues to be unsafe to remain in the area based on damage to infrastructure.”

A relief centre for residents has been set up at the Bendigo Showgrounds.

Echuca residents have frantically sandbagged doorways in historic High Street tonight, as a second flood peak expected from tomorrow could affect as many as 2000 homes.

Floodwaters from the Campaspe River peaked in Echuca at 96.25 metres above mean sea level late yesterday and have very slowly started to recede back to around 96 metres today.

SES and CFA volunteers form a human chain as they help lay sandbags at The Black Pudding Cafe.Credit: Bianca Hall

“But it is still going to be at that major flood level for another 24 to 48 hours,” SES Victoria chief Tim Wiebusch said earlier today.

“That means there is still around 1200 properties that are either isolated or some levels of inundation, either on the property and a number of homes above floor.”

SES and CFA volunteers formed a human chain outside The Black Pudding Cafe this afternoon, working quickly to sandbag the interior of the business.

Outside, sandbags lined the doorways and front steps of dozens of buildings, as the town prepares for the Murray River to peak at 95 metres above mean sea level.

The Port of Echuca was all-but deserted late today, and most cafes, restaurants and pubs have now closed. An evacuation order was issued for parts of Echuca, and Echuca Village.

Residents in areas that surround the Campaspe River, and in Echuca Village, have been warned to evacuate the area immediately.

Emergency Management Victoria is warning that anyone in affected areas who chooses to stay could become isolated for a number of days, and emergency services workers may not be able to assist them.

For more information, visit https://emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/

Victorians need to brace for the potential of more serious rain and flooding events not only at the end of the week but for the next two months, according to the SES.

SES Victoria chief Tim Wiebusch told 7 News this afternoon that riverside communities would likely be hit again this Friday when 20 to 40 millimetres of rain is expected.

“We’ve been preparing for these climatic conditions La Nina or a ‘negative Indian Ocean Dipole’ – which means above-average rainfall – for several months now, and we’re now starting to see that,” Wiebusch said.

“So we’re likely not just to see the rain that’s perhaps coming later this week. We could see other events over the next six to eight weeks that keep putting pressure back in our system.

“The catchments are saturated, water storages are full and spilling. So every time we get something like we might see this Friday, where we could see 20 to 40 millimetres of rain again, particularly in the north-east of the state, our river systems will be up and potentially putting pressure on some of these communities again.”

The Andrews government has just announced that all residents in the worst flood-affected areas of the state won’t need to pay any tip fees until the end of the year to help with the cost of cleanup.

The government waste levies in Victoria are usually between $62.95 per tonne and $125.90 per tonne, depending on the type of waste and the location of the landfill.

An estimated 300,000 tonnes of extra landfill is expected as a result of the Victorian floods.Credit: Joe Armao

All levies and gate fees will be totally waived in these 46 council areas until December 31.

The government estimates there will be 300,000 tonnes of waste will be sent to landfill as a result of the October floods.