‘Disaster fatigue’: The Victorian towns flooded for the second time

Flooding has hit several Victorian towns for the second time in just 15 months, as some regions record six months of rain in a week.

Record-breaking rains have swept across Victoria, leaving flood-affected communities on high alert for the second time in just 15 months.

Evacuation orders were issued for parts of Rochester, Seymour and Yea on Monday, with Shepparton and Murchison also preparing for flooding on Tuesday.

The SES has received more than 1540 calls for help so far, as the storms lashed central, northern and northeast Victoria, leading to 171mm of rain at Taggerty, 156mm at Mangalore and 141mm at Redesdale in the past week alone.

Rochester – where much of the township is still recovering after devastating floods in October 2022 – was issued its evacuation order on Monday night.

The town’s flood recovery committee chairman Leigh Wilson said it appeared the floods may had come in under the expected height, and so far “everyone is breathing a sigh of relief”.

“There are a lot of smiling faces, it is a pretty good feeling that we dodged a pineapple as we call it but I think underneath there will be a bit of a deflation later in the day as people’s emotions come back down,” Mr Wilson said.

“A good number of people have evacuated the town as well but apart from the caravan park by the river, which has water go over the floor of some of their buildings, I am not aware of any other business that has had any significant flooding.

“I am glad we went through the precautions we did because if it reached the level they were talking about we would see damage, absolutely.”

Rochester Football-Netball Club official Bruce Watson, who had a evacuated to a friend’s place on the other side of the Campaspe River, said the 2022 floods were still fresh in the minds of the township, with some people yet to move back into their homes.

“We only moved back in two weeks ago,” he said. “If it has inundated the places it will be a big setback but we are being told it shouldn’t be inundating too many – not like last time anyway.”

Residents of Rochester and other nearby towns were warned to evacuate ahead of the expected arrival of flood waters on Tuesday. Picture: Diego Fedele

In Seymour, Somerset Farm producer Chloe Fox said a sense of disaster fatigue was setting in, after their fruit and vegetable farm was hit by floodwaters for the second time since October 2022.

“It’s a lot less catastrophic than last time, but all of our crops were covered to waist height. We’ll go through today to see if anything can be salvaged,” Ms Fox said. 


“We will lose most of our leafy greens and herbs. We might be able to salvage some of our fruiting crops.”

Ms Fox said successive floods have taken their toll physically, emotionally, and financially.

“We’re still going through getting grant money from the previous flood,” Ms Fox said.

And with this week’s flood having hit Somerset Produce at the peak of the summer season, Ms Fox said most produce will be lost during the farm’s productive season.

A drone view shows the floodwater impact that affected the Rochester township on January 9, 2024 in Rochester, Australia. Picture: Diego Fedele

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said Victoria couldn’t afford more natural disasters, adding that it “was a joke” that the Victorian government was yet to release its flood inquiry report from the October 2022 disaster.

“How is it possible for Victoria to be so underprepared for an event that literally happened just over 12 months ago. All the warning signs were there, apart from the Bureau of Meteorology but other than that we know the catchments are full, we know the ground is soaked and the worst part of it will be going into winter,” Ms Germano said.

“What are we going to do? Just keep paying for clean-up, and paying for it not just financially with materials but paying for it with peoples’ mental health? How many times are you going to go through a flood like that before you move when there’s nothing tangible that anybody is working towards.

“The community is left without hope because there is not a plan, there’s never a plan, there’s not a thing that says this is what we need to do.”