Anthony Albanese to visit Victorian amid ‘blue sky’ flooding

Emergency warnings remain for Seymour and Rochester as SES crews brace for moderate to major flooding in Shepparton and Murchison.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan will push Anthony Albanese for “a fair share of funding” for flood affected communities after the Prime Minister unveiled additional support for Queensland’s storm and cyclone recovery.

The Prime Minister confirmed he will fly directly from far north Queensland to central Victoria on Wednesday afternoon to visit towns impacted by major flooding.

“I know for communities like Rochester, that I visited with then Premier Andrews just a relatively short period of time ago, that town was very much under water,” Mr Albanese said.

“We flew over Rochester at that time and it’s terrible to think that a short time later, towns like Rochester and Seymour are very vulnerable there in Victoria.

“All of this is a reminder that the science told us that climate change would mean there would be more extreme weather events and they would be more intense.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing that play out with the number of events that we’re having to deal with right around Australia.”

Mr Albanese confirmed his visit in a press conference where he announced a further $20m package for southeast Queensland.

Primary producers can also access up to $75,000 in grants and affected small businesses and non-profits able to receive up to $50,000 in grants.

The state’s Labor leader, speaking from Seymour, reassured Victorians her government would ask her federal counterpart for support.

“Victorians can absolutely expect that we’ll push the federal government for a fair share of funding for affected communities, and indeed for issues that affect Victoria,” Ms Allan said.

“We’ll always be very strong advocates to the federal government on those matters.”

Ms Allan said Emergency Recovery Victoria are working to provide targeted support as she recognised some communities hit by floods this week are still recovering from the 2022 flood event.

“I can accept and understand that for particular households and particular communities, when you’ve gone through the loss of a property, that is a really, really deeply personal and difficult experience to go through,” she said.

People stand close to floodwater as it reaches its peaks on January 09, 2024 in Rochester, Australia. (Photo by Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

State Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said an agreement is in place with the federal government to treat weather events from December 26 to the current flood situation as a single weather event.

“That just means it streamlines the ability for councils in particular to be able to access that financial assistance for damage,” Ms Symes said.

The comments come as emergency services are bracing for moderate to major flooding in Shepparton and Murchison in the coming days as Victoria enters a ‘blue sky’ flood situation.

Two emergency warnings remain in place for Seymour and Rochester, with residents advised it is either too late to leave or not safe to return home.

Yea’s evacuation alert, issued on Monday, has since been downgraded to a watch and act.

SES Victoria chief officer Tim Wiebusch said the agency knew of six properties that have been flooded in Yea, with crews conducting impact assessments in Seymour on Tuesday morning.

He confirmed the Gouldburn River in Seymour had peaked at 6.8m on Monday night and that waters in Rochester expected to peak on Tuesday.

“We’re starting to see those flood peaks that we’ve been warning people about for the last few days,” he told the ABC.

Mr Wiebusch said crews are not expecting Rochester - a town 180km north of Melbourne that was severely impacted by the 2022 floods - to be entirely flooded.

“The latest information from our crews on the ground in Rochester ... is that they are now starting to see flood waters in the streets. We’re looking at a flood peak of 114.8 metres, the fortunate part about that is that it’s about a metre less than what we saw in the 2022 floods.

Severe weather warnings were in place for vast swathes of central Victoria after heavy rainfall overnight. (Photo by Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

“But there is the potential for up to 35 properties to see water above floor as we see that peak.”

Victoria Police and SES said a good Samaritan known as Mitch swam out to a 74-year-old woman who was swept away by flood waters in Elmore on Monday night.

The Eaglehawk woman was driving in a convoy with a friend along Elmore-Raywood Road when her vehicle was swept into Bendigo Creek before it travelled 100m downstream.

“It is believed the local man, known as Mitch, swam out to the woman several times before he was able to use a ratchet strap to secure the woman to the tree,” a police statement said.

“Mitch then stayed with the woman making sure she was ok, for up to an hour, while emergency services responded and headed to the scene.”

A woman is rescued in flood waters in Elmore last night. Picture: Victoria Police

SES state control centre spokesman Jaime Devenish said 1700 calls for assistance had been made since the start of the weather event, including 835 relating to impacts of the floods and 150 for fallen trees.

People attempting to drive through flood waters made up most of the 49 water rescues.

“We’re moving into a situation now which we refer to as blue sky flooding, in that the rainfall has largely passed but now the water’s got to go somewhere,” he said.

Mr Devenish said SES expect to see moderate to major flooding on Tuesday night into Wednesday in Murchison, followed by flooding in Shepparton on Wednesday into Thursday.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines said rivers could remain swollen despite the expected easing of rainfall.

He said many towns experienced record rainfall over the last two days.

In Yea, 25 properties were isolated and six homes flooded above floor. In Seymour, up to 10 properties were flooded above floor.

“Those addresses will also have been impacted in October 2022. So we certainly feel for those residents,” Mr Devenish said.

Residents of Rochester and other nearby towns were warned to evacuate ahead of the expected arrival of flood waters on Tuesday. (Photo by Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

From Sunday to Monday, Bendigo achieved a record 23 hour rainfall of 91.8mm, Redesdale with 117mm and Heathcote reached a January record since 1883 with 154mm.

Into Tuesday, heavy rainfall travelled east with record rainfall tallies seen across Gippsland and included 74.2mm at Mount Baw Baw and 83.84mm at Reeves Knob.

“Although we have a couple of further showers for eastern parts of the state, primarily around the Gippsland area, the rainfall still to come is considerably less than the extensive and heavy rainfall we saw over the past 48 hours or so,” Mr Hines said.

Flood waters outside a house in Rochester. (Photo by Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

“However, just because the rain has eased or cleared out of the majority of Victoria, doesn’t mean that there is not still an issue with the amount of water that’s fallen over the last couple of days, and we’re seeing that with a number of rivers throughout the state running high.”

The senior meteorologist said it could take a few days before flood warnings are downgraded and cancelled.

Mitchell Shire Council Mayor Louise Bannister said despite the steadfast mentality of many Seymour residents, a large portion of the community is still recovering from devastating floods in 2022.

“Seymour’s is an amazingly resilient town, the residents and business owners have been incredible in preparing for (the floods). They just sort of get on with it,” Ms Bannister said.

“In saying that, I know that this will be traumatising for a lot of people. We still have people that haven’t even moved back into their homes from the last floods in 2022.

“We’ve had others who have only just moved in right before Christmas. So to have this happen in the New Year, to be told… watch and wait and evacuate again. It’s obviously going to be quite traumatic.”

Mr Bannister said in addition to newly set up evacuation centres to manage the current flood situation, recovery centres are still open from the previous floods.

‘The last thing we want is community members, individuals having to have to go through these hard times again,’ Ms Bannister said.

“Our recovery centre is up and operating still so they are still providing support to the last flood victims and will be there to provide support to anyone who may be impacted from these ones.”

Campaspe Mayor Rob Amos said while floodwaters have inundated some Rochester properties, floodwater does not appear to have reached the inside of homes, a significant relief for a community also still rebuilding after the 2022 floods.

“It certainly is…a big relief and at the town meeting (on Monday) you could see that people were visibly upset,” Mr Amos said.

“It’s fairly traumatic for people happening so soon after the 2002 floods.”