The northern Victorian town of Kerang will be isolated by floodwaters for a week as the state’s flood disaster continues to unfold – and the forecast for more heavy rain grows grimmer.
The Loddon River is expected to peak at 78 metres above mean sea level in Kerang, about 280 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, on Wednesday or Thursday.
A sandbag levee was expected to help keep the majority of the town dry but it could be cut off for up to seven days, Victorian State Emergency Service chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said.
“We are asking the Kerang community to consider whether they should now be moving to another location,” he said on Monday.
It came as forecasters warned of another deluge likely to hit flood zones later this week.
Weatherzone said heavy rain and severe thunderstorms were expected over much of eastern and south-eastern Australia, adding more water to already flooded rivers in several states.
Much of that area can expect more than 80 millimetres of rain, while up to 200 millimetres is forecast for Queensland-NSW border regions.
“This week’s rain will be widespread and involve intense thunderstorm activity on numerous days. Thunderstorms will be particularly dangerous over Queensland and NSW between Wednesday and Friday, when daily severe storm activity is likely in both states,” Weatherzone said.
“Unfortunately, this week’s rain and thunderstorms will impact areas of Victoria, Tasmania and NSW that are currently being affected by flooding from recent rain. In some areas, this week’s wet weather will cause renewed river level rises and hamper clean-up operations.”
On Monday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a $351 million flood recovery package to assist in beginning clean-up efforts in parts of Victoria.
It includes $165 million in emergency road fixes such as filling potholes and repairing surfaces to get people and freight moving.
“This is an initial amount of money and it will underpin those emergency repairs,” Mr Andrews said on Monday.
He said 11,000 Victorians had been displaced by the floods already. In one hard-hit town, Rochester, an estimated 85 per cent of homes are affected.
With further rain forecast and repeated peaks possible as different river systems come together, Victoria’s floods crisis is expected to last up to six weeks.
In Shepparton, in central Victoria, restaurant owner Gino Cirollo said flooding was already the worst he had seen.
“The bureau is saying there’s rain to come, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That’s the disturbing thing – once we get over this, we’re assured of more rain. Fingers crossed we can get over that also,” he said.
The Goulburn River threatened 8000 businesses and homes in Shepparton after peaking at 12.05 metres on Monday morning, only three centimetres below record flooding in 1974.
Mr Andrews said many Victorian rivers were still being inundated and communities remained under threat.
“Last night showed that the situation continues to evolve in places like Shepparton, Echuca, Charlton… where flood levels continue to rise, where communities are at real risk,” he said.
On a visit to the flooded NSW town of Forbes on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned Australians should prepare for a treacherous wet season.
Forbes is dealing with its fifth inundation in 12 years. Thousands of people have been affected, with some evacuated on Friday after the Lachlan River burst its banks, inundating the city centre.
Mr Albanese visited with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet as major flood warnings remained active for almost a dozen rivers across NSW.
“We are living in very dangerous times in the days and weeks ahead,” he said.
He urged people to follow warnings from emergency services, adding too many were dismissing advice to evacuate.
“[People are] saying ‘no, we’ll be right’,” Mr Albanese said.
That attitude was leading to multiple rescues in flooded regions, putting emergency personnel at risk, he said.
Major flooding is expected at Echuca in Victoria and Moama, a border town in the NSW Riverina district, with water rises likely to be as bad or worse than the 1993 flood – the area’s second-biggest on record.
In Moama, some 200 residents of an Indigenous community were being evacuated on Monday, along with residents of a caravan park.
Despite clear skies over NSW and Victoria on Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Dean Narramore said floodwaters were still rising.
Flood warnings continued across inland NSW and northern Victoria, he told the ABC on Monday.
“Today, we’re going to see a number of locations peak,” he said.
Major flooding at Warren, west of Dubbo, was expected to continue and more rain could cause further rises on the Macquarie River, threatening more severe flooding at Wellington and Narromine in the coming days.
Mr Narramore said this week’s storms would bring widespread falls of 25-50 millimetres over much of inland NSW and thunderstorms by mid-week.
“This is a lot less than what we saw, but with everything now so wet and saturated, this is going to lead to renewed river level rises on many of our already flooded rivers – particularly as we get in towards that Thursday and Friday,” Mr Narramore said.
The Victorian SES has received more than 6000 calls for help and carried out more than 650 flood rescue requests last Wednesday.
Disaster recovery payments have been made available to residents in 23 local government areas and a 250-bed camp will open at the former Mickleham COVID-19 quarantine facility.
About 100 ADF personnel have been deployed to help with evacuations and sandbagging. Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said Victoria had requested additional aviation support from Tuesday
-with AAP
