At 3.45am on Friday, October 14, 2022, residents of Benalla received a text message. It read, “Evacuate now”.
The evacuation area was primarily Benalla’s CBD and low-lying areas near Lake Benalla and the Broken River.
The flooding had been expected, but this was little comfort for those who feared they could lose everything.
Luckily, the flood reached levels below the 1993 flood, which gained national attention.
Sadly, several properties around Benalla were submerged, but the silver lining was the water began to recede before reaching the worst-case scenario of predictions.
Flood waters had already caused devastation in towns, including Seymour, and would go on to cause massive damage across the state.
But while the likes of Echuca and Rochester saw hundreds of homes and businesses affected, Benalla somehow dodged a bullet.
In Benalla, the lake had begun to rise on Wednesday, October 12. By the evening, it was less than a meter below the ‘stocky’ bridge on Ackerly Ave.
The following day, SES was offering free sandbags, and there were several places across town where they could be filled.
At 1pm on October 13, a Flash Flood Watch and Act warning was issued for Warrenbayne, Baddaginnie, Swanpool and Lima.
Lake Benalla broke its banks around the same time. While this is not unusual for the Rose City, in 2022, every dam was full, the ground was waterlogged, and rain fell continuously.
At 2.30pm, news came through that the Hume Fwy southbound between Avenal and Benalla was closed due to flooding.
At 4.11pm, the ‘stocky’ was under water. Again, this is not unusual for Benalla. But the rain kept falling.
Benalla Rural City Council had closed the Lake Benalla walking track, and people with low-lying homes were hurrying to sandbag their properties.
At 6pm, a minor flood warning was in place for Benalla. Less than three hours later, this was upgraded to a Watch and Act.
With the rain continuing to fall in Benalla and upstream, things would get worse before they got better.
Much like Benalla last week, the town was cut in half by floodwaters within the next hour.
Unlike last week, the water continued to rise.
By this stage, it was Friday morning, which is when the 3.45 text arrived.
It read “Emergency. EVACUATE NOW for FLOODING at Benalla. If you are located in the surroundings of Lake Benalla, it is recommended you evacuate immediately.”
Evacuation centres had been set up at BPACC and Benalla P-12s Faithfull St campus.
Warnings overnight stated the river was expected to reach 3.7 meters. By 10.30am on Friday, October 14, that forecast had risen to 4.5m.
It reached its peak a few hours later.
Between Thursday evening, October 13 and Friday morning, Benalla SES received 77 requests for help.
Walking around the still-dark streets of Benalla before sunrise on October 14, teams of SES volunteers, police and other emergency services were out in force assisting anyone who needed help.
As the sun rose, the streets were full of budding photographers capturing the floods.
By Saturday, flood waters were receding.
Benalla had experienced its worst flooding in years, but luckily the Rose City fared much better than many other locations around the state.