Evacuation ordered as Victoria faces two-month deluge

Three Victorian towns told to evacuate as rivers burst their banks following the first downpour in what is forecast to be two months of wild weather.

Naida Belot sandbags her home in Rochester, Victoria, after being warned the Campaspe River was rising rapidly. Picture: Jason Edwards

Three Victorian towns were told to evacuate immediately on Thursday night as rivers burst their banks following the first downpour in what is forecast to be two months of wild weather.

Residents of the semi-rural town of Rochester, 180km north of Melbourne, were the first to be told to leave after spending the day sandbagging homes and businesses. Following a downpour overnight on Wednesday, they were told the Campaspe River was rising rapidly, with authorities fearing 700 properties could be isolated and 250 inundated.

Shortly after 7pm, residents in Seymour, 110km north of Melbourne, were also told to get out. This was followed by an evacuation order for Carisbrook, 160km northwest of the city.

While authorities doorknocked hundreds of properties in Rochester, Skipton (about 160km west of Melbourne) and in Melbourne along the Maribyrnong catchment, at least 10,000 properties across the state lost power.

By 6.30pm, 55 rescues had been carried out. Emergency Management Victoria commissioner Andrew Crisp said the number of rescues was increasing “minute by minute”.

“Please, if you don’t need to be on the road … don’t be on the road,” he said.

State Emergency Service chief Tim Wiebusch said Victoria was “now experiencing a significant flood emergency”. The SES ­responded to 2000 calls for help on Thursday – most related to flash flooding and ­requests for sandbags.

“With the water catchments being saturated, our water storage being at spill level … we (are) going to see a number of impacts across the catchments in the coming days,” he said.

Mr Wiebusch said Seymour would “come under major threat from flooding” to a level not seen since 1974, with the potential for 187 properties to be inundated and a further 279 that could be ­isolated.

In Melbourne, the owners of three houses and a tavern along the Maribyr­nong River were told they were likely to experience flooding, with hundreds of ­others warned to be on alert.

The rains also triggered a landslide on the Great Ocean Road.

There were 70 active flood warnings on Thursday afternoon. Emergency services were expecting to be dealing with the “impacts across the whole state”, Mr Crisp said. About 40 schools and early learning centres closed early, while authorities established 50 sandbag collection points across the state.

Mathilda, 3, her father Justin and grandmother Christine prepare their shop for flooding in Rochester, Victoria. Picture: Jason Edwards

Among the towns experiencing downpours were Strathbogie North, 180km northeast of Melbourne, with 184mm of rain; Charnwood, 220km northeast of Melbourne, with 173mm; and Seymour, with 118mm, meteorologist Diana Eadie said.

Ms Eadie said between 20mm and 60mm of rain was expected in the same areas overnight on Thursday. For the Melbourne area, she said the greatest risk of flash flooding was between 5pm and 7pm.

“There is the potential for more rain from around mid to late next week,” she said.

Earlier, Victoria Premier ­Daniel Andrews said: “This will finish up being one of the most ­serious flood events we have had for quite some time.”

In NSW, police were searching for a man believed to have been swept away in floodwaters in the state’s midwest. The Bureau of Meteorology also issued flood warnings for inland rivers in parts of the northwest, central west and southwest.

Warnings were also issued for eight rivers in Tasmania.

While no injuries were reported by 4pm on Thursday, Mr Crisp urged Victorians to learn from the ­emergency. “If you’re not as prepared as you think you should be … look at how you might (prepare) for ­future events as we could be confronted with these situations over six to eight weeks,” he said.