A 1.4-metre deep canyon has emerged in a dirt road in regional Victoria that has been inundated by flooding and rain.
Wimmera farmer Matt Rohde said the dirt road had been closed since the region was lashed by spring flooding earlier this year.
When the floodwater dissipated, a deep trench was left in its place with dirt washing into a mound at the bottom of a hill.
To measure the trench's depth, Mr Rohde did what any good farmer would.
He jumped in it.
"I've never see anything like it," Mr Rohde said.
"You see bad ruts that might be knee-deep or something like that, and they're pretty hard to get access to.
"But this one was just enormous."
Mr Rohde said that dirt road had been closed since August, and was the only access road for farmers needing to get between several paddocks.
Like an earthquake
Rural Councils Victoria chair Mary-Anne Brown said she was shocked when she saw the image on social media.
Cr Brown said there were numerous roads across regional Victoria in serious states of disrepair, but this was among the worst she had seen.
"I've never seen an earthquake in person, but it looks like it was hit by an earthquake," Cr Brown said.
Cr Brown said other members of Rural Councils Victoria had seen similarly damaged roads across the state, including in Kerang.
"It's absolutely appalling," she said.
"Obviously that's at the very extreme end of road damage. But what we are hearing is that road conditions in many parts of rural Victoria are so poor, it's actually a safety issue."
Cr Brown said the state government should reinvestigate the way it repairs roads in the wake of this year's floods and the damage caused to the road network.
A state government spokesperson said a $165 million road repair blitz had been announced in October.
"This blitz is ensuring that the towns hit hardest by flooding remain connected to vital supplies and services — now we’re also turning our attention towards the first stage of longer-term, larger-scale repairs,” the spokesperson said.
