East Gippsland: Latest Snowy River flood peaks at 7.71 metres at Orbost
History shows some of the biggest floods in the Snowy River have come in summer. Two farmers agree on the biggest one to hit the region.
East Gippsland farmers are on edge with some of the region’s biggest floods dating back to the 1890s taking place in the warmer months of the year.
Last week farmers on the Snowy River were given a taste of what could be in store when the river rose quickly to peak at 7.71 metres at Orbost.
Big rains in the Monaro region coupled with ongoing releases from the Jindabyne Dam, combined to trigger the latest flood that left river flats between Orbost and Marlo submerged.
Heavy rains occur in East Gippsland at any time of the year with the 1971 flood, which two long-time farmers on the Snowy believe was the biggest, coming in February.
Other big ones were in December 1893 and January 1934 and farmer John McKeown said a big spring flood would be devastating.
“We’ve sort of escaped a lot of the big ones in the spring over time,” he said.
“This one was particularly bad timing because it’s when a lot of the cows are starting off your season.
“You’re looking at getting your big spring volumes between August and Christmas and then tapering off.
“They had gigantic rains in the head of the Bonang, Delegate and Bombala rivers so we’re all hoping it drops out.”
Cooma and Bombala has recorded 127 and 123.8 millimetres of rain respectively in October, more than double the long term average.
Orbost, near the Snowy River mouth, has had 75.4mm in October.
Mr McKeown said the 1971 flood, which peaked at more than 10 metres at Orbost, was the worst he could remember.
“It was up to the spouting of all the dairies,” he said.
“All the cattle had to come off the flats and be dried off and sent away.”
Peter Nixon, grew up in Orbost and still lives in the area after serving as the federal MP for Gippsland for 22 years, agreed that the 1971 was “probably the biggest one we’ve had”.
“On our farm at Jarrahmond we lost sheds, the dairy was washed out and a lot of cows were washed away,” he said.
“It was just horrendous. The current was furious.
“Our floods come when the Monaro gets heavy rain.
“The release of water from Jindabyne is to be expected.
“But there is only one place it can go and that is down the Snowy.
“Sooner or later we will cop it.”
EARLIER COVERAGE
The Snowy River flood at Orbost has peaked at 7.71 metres with river flats between Orbost and Marlo almost completely submerged.
The peak came as expected overnight Wednesday, with farmers fearing the prospect of floodwater lingering for weeks with saturated catchments and ongoing releases from Lake Jindabyne at the top of the Snowy River.
Dennis Reynolds, who has two farms in the Orbost area, said: “It’s pretty bloody wet.
“The rain has come not so much here locally, but more up in the catchments and they’ve been letting water out of the dam (Jindabyne) again.
“The river was already pretty well full and is probably the reason we’ve got a pretty reasonable flood this time around.”
The Marlo Rd between Orbost and Marlo remains closed, which means tourists coming to the area for the Melbourne Cup weekend face a longer drive via Cabbage Tree Creek.
“We regularly get floods, we live on a flood plain,” he said.
“It doesn’t have the same impact as places like Echuca and most of the farm houses are higher enough above the flood level.
“It is just inconvenient and bad when it’s on a weekend when the tourism side of things is going to be a bit better.
“It’s probably an extra half an hour’s drive for people to get to Marlo.”
Mr Reynolds said one of his farms on the Snowy River flats was flooded.
“We’ve got about 300 acres underwater on the flats,” he said.
“We’ve been able to still milk on our higher country.”
Floodwater came close to the Sailors Grave Brewing business on the edge of the Snowy River overnight Wednesday.
EARLIER COVERAGE
East Gippsland is the latest addition to Victoria’s floods crisis with major flooding of the Snowy River at Orbost expected late on Wednesday.
The Marlo Rd between Orbost and Marlo was closed about 1pm on Wednesday with about 70mm of rain falling across the Snowy River catchment to 9am Wednesday.
Further east at Genoa there has been more than 100mm since last Friday and the Genoa River is also in flood.
More rain is expected in East Gippsland in coming days.
Major flooding in the Snowy River is occurring downstream of McKillops Bridge and at Basin Creek it peaked at 7.99 metres around 9am Wednesday.
Water is across the Marlo Road under the Princes Highway bridge at Orbost and several other spots.
Access to Marlo is via Cabbage Tree-Conran Rd and Marlo-Conran Rd.
Flood waters are also over Bete Bolong Rd and Buchan-Orbost Rd which run parallel to the Snowy River.
Lake Jindabyne in the headwaters of the Snowy River is full with regular releases taking place this month.
The flooding in the Snowy River has intensified with the Bombala and Cooma catchments above McKillops Bridge also experiencing heavy rainfall on Tuesday.
Bete Bolong’s Chris Nixon said landholders had been watching the rising levels of the Snowy River closely for days.
“It’s not a huge flood yet,” he said.
“For those who’ve already been inundated they’ve shifted stock and retrieved machinery.
“We’re well versed with floods in this part of the world.”
In April this year the Princes Highway between Orbost and Genoa had to be shut after East Gippsland was pounded with heavy rain.
Power was also cut to hundreds of home at Marlo for days.
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