Floods crisis sparks cost of living fears

The cost-of-living crisis is set to deepen as a mass of water hits the Murray River, threatening the supply and prices of basic items, such as milk, fruit and ­vegetables.

Hundreds of hectares of crops are underwater in the Loddon Shire.

The nation’s cost-of-living crisis is set to deepen as a mass of water hits the Murray River, threatening the supply and prices of basic items, such as milk, fruit and ­vegetables in already waterlogged northern Victoria and southern NSW.

The floods have smashed the dairy industry in northern and central Victoria, fruit and vegetable growers and beef and cattle producers, forcing instances of on-farm dumping of milk.

The crisis has raised the likelihood of price increases for basic items, such as apples and oranges, nuts and stone fruit, as well as meat and milk as the southeastern Australian flood disaster threatens to slash returns from the Murray Darling basin’s $22bn food bowl.

Thousands more homes are also in danger in key tourism destinations in Victoria and NSW.

The historic Victorian river port town of Echuca is also facing a one-in-150-year flood, with the army on Monday night trying to raise a 2.5km-long levee bank before water from the Goulburn River swells the Murray.

In South Australia, experts believe the floodwaters will reach the state in November, potentially leading to flooding, with towns and primary producers ­already preparing for threatened inundation.

 

NSW, Victoria and Queensland also are facing potentially heavy rain later this week, some hitting flood-affected areas.

Record rains that hit Victoria and NSW last week have led to several key Victorian regional ­cities and towns, including ­Shepparton, Rochester, Seymour and Echuca being severely ­affected by flooding.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned of the potential for higher grocery prices and resulting inflation in the wake of the floods swamping much of the eastern seaboard, with fears ­consumers will face higher fruit, vegetables and meat prices.

The government says there will be unavoidable cost-of-living impacts from flood damage in southeastern Australia.

“Tragically, there had been such a good harvest anticipated in wheat, fruit and vegetables, so many products ... areas like poultry will be affected as well,” Mr Albanese told the ABC.

“We have to work with farmers and the sector, they have done it tough in recent years and we’re very hopeful, but there’s no doubt there will be an impact on this and the impact will feed into higher prices, most unfortunately at a time when inflation has already been rising.”

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said it was still too soon to grasp the full extent of damage to farms in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley, but there would be an immediate price spike for fruit and vegetables due to “serious logistical issues”.

“We know that there’s milk that’s having to be dumped at the moment – things like that take longer to transpire through the supply chain,” Ms Germano said.

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said tractor access was limited in farming land in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.

“One of the issues with farmers is that it’s not just the impact on the crops being destroyed, but their tractors can’t get in because it’s so bogged and things like that.”

It comes as severe storms, heavy winds, hailstones and further flooding are set to roll across Australia’s east coast, with two rain bands expected to affect four states from now until next week. A low-pressure system originating in South Australia will push east from Tuesday, eventually rolling into NSW. The system will begin to affect NSW, Victoria and southern Queensland from Wednesday.

The flood events have smashed road and bridge infrastructure in northern and central Victoria, with Premier Daniel Andrews announcing a $351m flood recovery package, including $165m in road repair funding.

As part of an emergency re-establishment fund, uninsured Victorians whose homes have been damaged will be given access to payments of up to $42,250. This is in addition to one-off emergency payments of about $2000 per family available through Victoria’s Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

“There will need to be more funding beyond that. This is an initial amount of money, and it’ll underpin those emergency repairs,” Mr Andrews said.

In Echuca, 240km north of Melbourne, Campaspe shire mayor Chrissy Weller said the biggest threat would come on Wednesday when the floodwater from the Goulburn River would hit the Murray “like a brick wall”.

“The flood level for the Murray is 94.4m, it was 94.2m at 5am but they’re expecting that height to be 95.9m on Wednesday.”

Ms Weller said locals were working with the army to build a 2.5km levee by Tuesday night. “We’re trying to build it in the next 48 hours … the power of the people is just amazing, they’re down there filling the sandbags for the defence force to move them,” she said.

Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh, who lives in Echuca, said emergency services personnel were gravely concerned about the second wave of water. “They effectively don’t know what will happen. A lot of the town will go under,” he said.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Simon Timcke said a low pressure system moving across from the state’s west would cause rainfall of 5mm-15mm on Wednesday and Thursday before another trough could see as much as 30mm over the weekend.

A South Australian SES spokesman said the agency was carefully monitoring the high river flows along the Murray.

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