With floodwaters from the Murray River closing in, people in Echuca Village have been getting ready for what is to come.
Like many areas across the region, Echuca Village is expected to be hit by widespread inundation when the Murray River peaks, something which is predicted to occur on Friday or Saturday.
With the water on the way down the river, there has been a massive sandbagging effort across the area as residents band together in droves to help protect their homes and the community.
Darrell Phillips is Captain of the Echuca Village Fire Brigade and he gave an update on the mammoth efforts underway to protect the community.
“We have been knocking out about 30,000 sandbags a day,” Phillips said.
“It has been a great community effort between the Echuca Village Fire Brigade and the greater community.
“This morning we counted and we had 11,000 sandbags on pallets sitting on the ground.”
Phillips said it was fantastic to see so many people out helping with the defences against the approaching water.
“It has been a great community effort. It is quite inspiring actually, to see what is being done,” he said.
“We have had probably 100-120 people at a time here. We have had people pulling up wanting to deliver sandbags to people and others taking them down to the river or where they are required.
“We worked on the theory that planning and preparation makes execution easier. We have been planning since last Tuesday.”
Phillips said there have been contributions not just from Echuca Village, but from across the region to help with the sandbagging effort.
“Coles donated some bags, we’ve had bags come from Bunnings in Epsom,” he said.
“We’ve had them come from all over, even some that hadn’t been used in Rochester, it’s been great.”