Water authorities are being accused of failing to operate flood mitigation infrastructure in northern Victoria, causing floodwater to flow uncontrollably onto a plain where a farmer drowned on Tuesday night.
Loch Garry protects the lower Goulburn flood plain in a minor or moderate flood and is opened during a major flood to ease the pressure on the river system.
But staff from Goulburn-Murray Water only managed to partly open the gates at the weekend before leaving due to safety concerns.
On Wednesday morning, a 65-year-old man was found dead downstream of the loch, on Paynes Road.
Police found his unoccupied tractor on Tuesday night, and his wife and son found his body in floodwater this morning.
The management of the loch is governed by decades-old rules which say bars in the loch structure are pulled 24 hours after the Goulburn River reaches a major flood of 10.36m in Shepparton.
But farmer Jim Grinter, who lives downstream of the loch, said it was clear to everyone that the flood was going to rise too quickly to manage the release of the water in that timeframe.
Mr Grinter has 1,200 hectares of crop completely under water and he expects to lose the lot.
He said he tried to contact Goulburn-Murray Water to release the loch earlier but couldn't even get the water authority to answer the phone.
"I tried to ring Goulburn-Murray Water three days out from the pulling of the bars to have a discussion with them," Mr Grinter said.
He said his calls went unanswered.
"I tried the Shepparton office twice or three times and got no reply, I tried the 1800 number in Tatura and got no reply and I finally rang the 24-hour emergency line and it rang for 15 minutes and rang out," he said.
"At that stage I gave up, but we've got the result of that now, had they picked up the phone I am 100 per cent sure that we could have got consensus of the Loch Garry people that the bars should be pulled out early."
Goulburn-Murray Water has said staff were forced to abandon their jobs to release the loch because of the high water and the unsafe working environment.
Mr Grinter said with the loch still in place, pressure built up on the levee and it failed in multiple locations.
"The Loch Garry bank had already blown in four places," he said.
"It had opened itself basically."
Situation too unsafe
Goulburn-Murray Water emergency controller Peter Clydesdale said staff began removing bars at Loch Garry at midday on Sunday.
The trigger for release was 24 hours after the Goulburn River reached 10.36m at Shepparton, in line with the Loch Garry Flood Protection Operating Rules.
"At this stage, the loch water level was quickly rising," Mr Clydesdale said.
"Staff were able to remove approximately half of the bars at the loch before rising water levels meant it was physically impossible and unsafe for them to continue."
He said only three of the extracted bars were placed on top of the structure because of the challenging conditions.
"Further bars that were extracted were let go and washed away," he said.
