Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, has announced a $351m emergency package to begin flood recovery in parts of the state, as residents in the rural town of Kerang are urged to leave or risk facing more than a week of isolation.
On Monday there were 60 warnings issued across the state, including evacuation orders for Charlton on the Avoca River, Bunbartha in Greater Shepparton and Echuca along the Murray River.
State Emergency Service (SES) chief of operations, Tim Wiebusch, urged those in Kerang on the Loddon River in northern Victoria to consider relocating given they faced the potential of being cut off by flood waters for more than a week.
The river is expected to peak at 78 metres above sea level in Kerang, about 280km kilometres northwest of Melbourne, on Wednesday or Thursday.
“The community is now preparing themselves, and the roads will be sandbagged to join up the levees around Kerang and at this stage at the height that we’re expecting of 78 meters [above sea level], we do expect Kerang to be able to remain dry,” Wiebusch told reporters on Monday.
“But it will be isolated. We’re asking the Kerang community to consider whether they should now be moving to another location, given that peak is expected Wednesday into Thursday.”
Wiebusch said the Campaspe River at Echuca would remain at a major flood level for 24 to 48 hours.
“That means there are still around 1,200 properties [in Echuca] that are either isolated or have some level of inundation, either on the property and a number of times above the floor,” he said.
Authorities said the Murray River was expected to peak at 95m above sea level on Tuesday, which could cause damage to 1,000 to 2,000 properties in the area.
Merinda Slater lives on the western side of Echuca, which has been “split into two towns” by the rising river.
Slater said that once the alerts came through warning of evacuations the supermarket shelves were “stripped bare”.
“It’s doomsday behaviour, there’s no bread, it’s like Covid,” she said.
Wiebusch, however, said there was some “light at the end of the tunnel” for Shepparton and Mooroopna.
On Sunday it was forecast up to 7,300 properties could be inundated, with predicted river heights of 12.2m on Goulburn River at Shepparton. Instead, it peaked at 12.05m on Monday morning.
“That 15cm makes a significant difference to the number of properties either isolated or impacted, so we believe around 4,000 properties are now either isolated or have some levels of inundation,” he said.
Most residents from the Aboriginal community of Cummeragunja, on the banks of the Murray on the border of NSW and Victoria, evacuated on Monday.
Belinda Day works for the local Health and Development Aboriginal Corporation and told Guardian Australia that residents initially feared leaving their homes and wanted to stay.
“The majority had elected that they were going to stay on country but we’ve had New South Wales police out this morning doing door knocking advising that it is actually a mandatory evacuation.”
“They’re going to either relocate themselves to family or friends or they’re going to go into Moama and access the evacuation centre there and seek some support,” Day said.
The Campaspe River near Rochester was starting to recede, allowing for impact assessments to begin. It was thought 85% of properties in the rural town – up to 900 homes – had been inundated, Wiebusch said. A 71-year-old Rochester man died in floodwaters in his backyard on Saturday.
SES members have completed more than 650 flood rescues since the flood event began last week and have responded to 6,000 requests for emergency assistance.
Speaking at the state’s emergency control centre on Monday, Andrews said $165m would be spent on an emergency road repair blitz, which had already begun, to fix potholes and repair road surfaces.
The funding would also cover larger-scale works, including the rebuilding of roads, bridges and culverts, particularly in the Hume, Loddon Mallee and Western regions, which have been the worst affected to date.
Andrews said the immediate focus was making key roads safe so emergency services and vital supplies can reach affected communities ahead of more rain forecast later in the week.
Clean-up efforts had also begun in Maribyrnong, Melbourne, where police are investigating reports of looting.
The emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, said a flood victim who had evacuated last week had returned home to find they had been burgled.
Police were on Monday looking for a blue Ford Territory which pulled up outside a Burton Crescent home at around 7am on Monday.
“We see the absolute best in behaviour across all of our Victorians,” Crisp said. “Sadly, we also see the absolute worst in behaviour.”
Crisp said more than 100 Australian defence force troops had been deployed to flood-affected areas.
The premier said more than 11,000 people had applied for emergency support payments since they opened on Friday.
On Monday federal emergency management minister, Murray Watt, said modelling indicated more than 9,000 homes were flooded in northern Victoria and more than 34,000 homes across the state could be flooded or isolated with water or isolated.
An emergency re-establishment assistance fund will also provide up to $42,250 for uninsured properties.
The Victorian opposition welcomed the funding but continued to call for the government to declare a natural disaster to provide certainty and unlock further funding and support from the commonwealth.
However, Crisp said there would be “no benefit whatsoever” to declare a state of disaster at this stage.
Andrews said the state and federal governments were working to finalise disaster recovery funding arrangements.
- With AAP
