Flooding fears as Dartmouth, Hume dams fill
Full dams and predicted rain this week are adding to worries for those downstream of Murray River water storages.
Landholders along the Murray River are preparing to be flooded as a chain of full dams can no longer hold back flows.
The massive 3856-gigalitre Dartmouth Dam was 99.16 per cent full yesterday (Wednesday) and is expected to soon spill for the first time since 1996.
That water will then flow into Hume Dam, which yesterday had just 4 per cent air space before it too will be forced to release even more water.
Murray River Action Group chairman Richard Sargood said there were 130 landholders between the Hume Dam and Yarrawonga who would have country flooded, despite his organisation warning authorities of what would happen.
“Five weeks ago, Blind Freddy could see that flooding was going to happen with the dams so full going into spring, but unfortunately Blind Freddy doesn’t work for the Murray Darling Basin Authority,” Mr Sargood said.
“Five weeks ago, there was 250 gigalitres of airspace in the dams and average spring inflows are 1600 gigalitres but they told us the dams were not guaranteed to fill.
“We will now wear the consequences of that decision.”
MDBA river management senior director Joe Davis said about 35,500 megalitres is being released from Hume Dam daily.
He said there was an increased chance of flooding this season throughout the Murray River and its tributaries, and “those living along the river need to stay informed and know what to do in an emergency”.
We are actively managing both Hume and Dartmouth Dams and our river operators are working around the clock to assess new inflow and weather information and to manage releases,” Mr Davis said.
“The current release strategy aims to maintain flows below minor flood level at Albury, however if inflows are higher than forecast, we may need to quickly increase releases.
“Once a dam is full, the MDBA cannot control the flow of water coming in.”
Mr Davis said based on the Bureau of Meteorology current forecast for some rain later this week, the Dartmouth Dam storage level was expected to approach but not reach the spillway this coming weekend.
“There is sufficient airspace in Hume to manage the volumes of rain currently forecast for later this week,” he said.
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