Hi all.
Welcome to the rolling coverage on Friday, January 12.
The Goulburn River is still expected to peak in Shepparton tonight into tomorrow morning.
As the week has progressed, the peak height and time projections have continued to get lower and further away respectively - which is great news.
Stay with us across the day as we bring you all of the updates as they emerge.
A reminder, the latest news will appear at the top of the story and you can scroll down for earlier updates to see how the situation has progressed.
This story is free to read as it contains urgent or emergent information relevant to public health and safety.
Please consider registering or subscribing to The News to help support important local journalism such as this.
Ensure you stay across alerts on the VicEmergency app, the Victoria SES website or by calling 132 500 if you urgently need assistance. Call 000 in an emergency and remember to never drive through or enter floodwaters.
Some handy tools to use to check how your property will be affected by certain river levels are linked below.
Goulburn Broken Community Flood Intelligence Portal: https://my.floodreport.com.au/gbcma/
SES local flood guides: https://www.ses.vic.gov.au/plan-and-stay-safe/flood-guides
If you need to contact us, please email editor@sheppnews.com.au or call 5820 3221.
UPDATE, 6.10pm, Friday, January 12: (Hopefully) last word from us
That just about wraps up our rolling coverage for the day, and most likely for the event as a whole.
The peak of the Goulburn River is yet to hit Shepparton, but all modelling shows it is not far away and won’t be much higher than it is now (10.3m).
We’ll bring you anything urgent or emergent you need to know across the weekend if necessary, but the best way to find everything we’ve written on the riverine flooding across the region this week is to head to the home page of our website and navigate your way around - on whichever device or platform you prefer.
We’ll also have plenty more for you next week as the water subsides.
As you know, our urgent and emergent coverage sits outside the paywall - mostly in the form of these live blogs - but if you would like to show your appreciation for it, please consider registering or subscribing to The News, buying a print copy of the paper, signing up for any of our newsletters, downloading our app, liking and following us on social media or at the very least talking to your friends and family about how impressed you were.
We appreciate you showing your appreciation in any or all of these ways.
Please also show your appreciation to our local emergency services, volunteers, council staff, governing bodies, community organisations and anyone else who has made the excellent response to the severe weather and subsequent flooding this week possible.
If you’ll indulge me for just a moment I’d like to also give a shoutout to the team at The News - and wider McPherson Media Group - for their efforts.
We try as hard as we can to keep you updated to the minute across all possible areas of interest in situations like this - which thankfully ended up being much less serious than initially projected - not just because it’s our job but because we know that if we were on the outside of the newsroom looking in we would want to see the same thing happening.
Of course, if you have feedback of any kind that you would like to provide on our coverage please reach out to editor@sheppnews.com.au or 5820 3221 to let us know.
Stay safe, and bye for now.
Tyler Maher,
Editor.
UPDATE, 5.50pm, Friday, January 12: Update from the Shepparton ICC
The Shepparton Incident Control Centre, in conjunction with the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority and Shepparton Police, has provided a video update this evening.
Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKjdYgkbSnA
UPDATE, 5.25pm, Friday, January 12: Level check
The Goulburn River at Shepparton is at 10.3m as of the latest update (4.49pm).
It has been crawling slowly upwards across the day, and is not expected to get much higher.
The main watch now it whether it hits 10.36m, which would kickstart Loch Garry operating procedures.
UPDATE, 5.15pm, Friday, January 12: Flood footage from today
The News journalists drove around today collecting footage from the floods around Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla.
Check out some of the footage below.
UPDATE, 5pm, Friday, January 12: A return to normal soon
With the Goulburn River expected to peak in Shepparton late tonight, things will have calmed in Shepparton a bit tomorrow, with life returning to normal for most.
Sandbag facilities at Shepparton and Ardmona will close tonight.
The Incident Control Centre that has been running in Shepparton all week is also expected to close some time tomorrow.
UPDATE, 4.55pm, Friday, January 12: A safety warning
With the weather to be more than 30 degrees for the weekend Shepparton Control Centre Incident controller Brendan Corboy has some important messages to anyone thinking about swimming in the Goulburn River to cool off.
In a nutshell – don’t do it.
“The highest risk now is kids being around waterways,” he said.
“Floodwaters aren’t the same as the normal river and people need to be mindful of that.
“People shouldn’t play in them, or allow their kids to.”
Mr Corboy said that while in flood, there would be debris floating down the river, making it a dangerous spot to be.
Chemicals from farms upstream could also have washed into the system, while contents of low lying septic systems may also have washed into the river, he said.
“There is an infection risk and it can impact your health,” Mr Corboy said.
“You can avoid that risk by avoiding the water.”
On the topic of safety, Mr Corboy also reminded people to abide by any reduced speed limits that had been placed on local roads.
“Road limits are important to be followed,” he said.
“It’s not just the speed limit, but can also be for the integrity of the road.”
Mr Corboy said if roads had been inundated with floodwater, they needed time to dry out and if people did high speeds on them while still drying, it could affect the integrity of the road surface.
This then could lead to problems with the road further down the track.
My Corboy said people were also distracted while driving on roads near floodwater, and instead of watching the road, were looking at water or animals on the sides of the roads.
Lower speeds will also help here, but people should make sure they are paying attention to where they are driving.
UPDATE, 3.05pm, Friday, January 12: More on the water situation at Nagambie
Water is being trucked into Nagambie from Seymour to keep up the town’s water supply as poor raw water quality continues to impact the Nagambie Water Treatment Plant after the floods.
Continuing very poor raw water quality at Nagambie is creating treatment challenges for Goulburn Valley Water to ensure the water is safe to drink.
Operators and water quality specialists have been working around the clock to adapt the treatment processes, but the treatment plant is currently running at a lower capacity than usual as a result of the poor raw water quality, Goulburn Valley Water said.
To ensure water demand can continue to be met, Goulburn Valley Water is tankering fully treated water from Seymour into its treated water storages at Nagambie to supplement the supply to customers.
Treated water storage reserves are also lower than usual.
Goulburn Valley Water incident controller Dan Flanagan said the raw water quality in the Goulburn River at Nagambie was showing unprecedented levels of sedimentation and organic material.
“We’re currently seeing levels of cloudiness, or dirtiness, and colour at least 10 times higher than we normally would in our raw water supply, as a result of the floods,” he said.
Goulburn Valley Water has urged its Nagambie customers to conserve water where possible for at least the next 24 to 48 hours.
Nagambie residents can continue to use water for essential needs like drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning and running evaporative air conditioners, but are asked to delay outdoor high volume uses like watering the garden or washing vehicles.
“Customers can play a role by conserving water, which will help ensure we can continue to meet water demand for essential needs, and we thank everyone for their help in reducing water use already,” Mr Flanagan said.
Tankers will be seen entering the Nagambie treatment plant area throughout Friday and they will start a 24-hour operation from Saturday morning and through the weekend.
Goulburn Valley Water expects the conserve water request to be in place for at least the next 24-48 hours and it will let customers know as soon as possible when they can resume normal water use.
The water authority will continually assess the situation and provide updates on its website at gvwater.vic.gov.au/service-interruptions/incidents
UPDATE, 2.45pm, Friday, January 12: Footage from ICC briefing
State Member for Northern Victoria and Minister for Emergency Services Jaclyn Symes and Acting Premier Ben Carroll attended the ICC briefing today in Shepparton.
Here’s what they and ICC Incident Controller Ray Jasper had to say.
UPDATE, 2.25pm, Friday, January 12: Eildon flows
ICC incident controller Ray Jasper has moved to reassure people that increased releases from Lake Eildon will not affect flood levels for any towns along the Goulburn River.
Releases from Lake Eildon were increased to 7500Ml a day from this morning.
Mr Jasper said authorities were trying to create some airspace in the Eildon storage, but the extra flows were also needed to flush out some blackwater that was now in lagoons close to the river between Seymour and Nagambie.
“It needs a good flush,” Mr Jasper said.
“It (blackwater) is not good for stock.”
UPDATE, 2.15pm, Friday, January 12: Shepparton peak
The Goulburn River at Shepparton is expected to peak late tonight, but it will not rise all that much further than what it is currently sitting at.
Current predictions are for a peak of 10.4m.
With the river already at 10.26m at 12.52pm, there will not be all that much of a rise throughout today.
With Loch Garry having to start operations 24 hours after the gauge at Shepparton hits 10.36m, it will be touch and go as to whether the Loch even has to operate in this flood.
Shepparton Incident Control Centre incident controller Ray Jasper said Loch Garry would only have up to two bars removed at the most.
The floodwater is predicted to peak at Bunbartha and Undera on Saturday afternoon, or into Saturday night at a minor flood level.
Mr Jasper said it would be Monday or Tuesday before the floodwater from the Goulburn met the Murray River .
It won’t make a difference to Echuca. It will stay below minor flood level.
UPDATE, 2pm, Friday, January 12: Broken Creek
The Goulburn Broken Catchment Managment Authority is working to address blackwater in the Broken Creek following the recent storm and flood activity in the region.
“Water is being fed into the lower Broken Creek via irrigation channels to address blackwater and provide critical refuge for native fish and other aquatic animals,” the GBCMA said in an update to social media.
“Low-oxygen blackwater is occurring due to the recent heavy rain and storms along with high summer temperatures.
“Floodwaters have carried large amounts of organic material such as leaves, twigs and grass into the creek, which turns the water a dark brown or black colour.
“As this material is broken down by bacteria, it can reduce oxygen levels in the water which can stress and possibly kill fish and other aquatic fauna.
“The channel water is high in dissolved oxygen which helps improve oxygen levels in the creek as well as providing higher quality water for fish to move to.
“We have collaborated with Goulburn-Murray Water to provide the fresh water to improve the water quality in the lower Broken Creek.”
UPDATE, 1.30pm, Friday, January 12: Ministers visit
Victoria’s Acting Premier Ben Carroll and Emergency Services Minister and State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes visited Shepparton this morning.
The pair visited the Shepparton Incident Control Centre where they were briefed on the flood situation.
Earlier Ms Symes also met with Greater Shepparton City Council representatives.
They also said thanks to some of those emergency services workers for their efforts during the past week.
UPDATE, 1pm, Friday, January 12: Another closure
Confirmation this morning that Tom Collins Dve is closed to traffic from Aquamoves onwards due to the rising floodwater.
Mitchell Rd, between the Goulburn Valley Hwy and Archer St, is currently closed as well.
Also, Greater Shepparton City Council has reminded residents to watch out for snakes escaping the water, not just larger animals which might cause traffic issues.
We’ll have an update from the Shepparton Incident Control Centre shortly, where Acting Premier Ben Carroll and Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes have recently spoken to our journalists.
The Goulburn River is at 10.25m in Shepparton at the latest update.
UPDATE, 11.45am, Friday, January 12: Nagambie water
Goulburn Valley Water’s ‘current service interruptions’ list has a note for Nagambie residents to conserve water until further notice.
“Please conserve water to help us manage demand while the treatment plant is impacted by floodwaters,” the update from last night said.
“Treated water supplied by Goulburn Valley Water in Nagambie is safe to drink.
“However, due to impacts from the heavy rain and flooding, the raw water quality in the Goulburn River is poor and challenging to treat to ensure it’s safe to drink.
“To ensure there is enough water for critical users in the region, we’re asking everyone to conserve water where possible to help reduce demand and allow us time to ‘catch up’ in treating enough water to maintain supply and replenish storages.
“We expect the Goulburn River water quality continue to improve over the next couple of days. In the meantime, water tankers have been organised to deliver treated water from Seymour commencing at 7am (Friday morning).
“Please continue essential water use indoors – ie cooking, drinking, bathing, cleaning, running evaporative air conditioners. Where possible, limit watering lawns and large gardens outdoors (small pot plants are okay), cleaning cars, and other high-volume water use. Consider delaying using your dishwasher or washing machine, and take quick showers.
“We appreciate your help and will keep you updated via text messages and our website. We will let you know when you can return to normal water use.
“For further advice or information contact 1800 454 500.”
UPDATE, 10.55am, Friday, January 12: Raftery Rd
Raftery Rd, Kialla, has plenty more water on it this morning.
The Seven Creeks at Kialla West remains at 4.83m, below the moderate flood level of 5m.
UPDATE, 9.52am, Friday, January 12: Council’s statement on relocation of homeless
Greater Shepparton City Council has released a statement on the homelessness situation around Shepparton, particularly those living around the Goulburn River.
Director Community and Municipal Emergency Management Officer Louise Mitchell said they’ve been working to ensure everyone is safe during this flood event.
“Council and other agencies are checking in with campers and encouraging them to access available supports, along with warning them of the risks of camping close to where flood water might be present in the coming days,” Ms Mitchell said.
“Council is in regular contact with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, and a number of government and community agencies with local responsibilities, via the Municipal Emergency Management Planning Committee.”
UPDATE, 9.15am, Friday, January 12: Search for car
We have found out a little bit more information about that search of the Goulburn River between Mooroopna and Toolamba late yesterday afternoon that we reported on in our rolling coverage last night.
Shepparton Police Acting Sergeant Bridie Bremner said two men in a tinnie approached some off-duty CFA members and told them they had seen a car in the Goulburn River “about 10 bends back” from where they were about 3pm.
Police did not receive the information until later, where they immediately launched a search of the river.
With the police helicopter not available, the air ambulance helicopter came from Bendigo to search the river from the air, while the Shepparton Search and Rescue launched a boat from the boat ramp near the causeway in Shepparton.
SES and police were also involved in the search.
The Shepparton Search and Rescue team searched along the river all the way to the area near Pyke Rd, off Toolamba Rd in Mooroopna.
No car was found by searchers.
“Nothing came of it,” Act Sgt Bremner said.
She said police received information later that it was possible the vehicle had overturned and was missing parts and was possibly just a car wreck that was swept into floodwater because the river was so high.
“We don’t believe anyone was in it,” she said.
UPDATE, 9.15am, Friday, January 12: Some images
We’ll keep you updated across the day with what the rivers look like as well as their levels.
The Boulevard Bush Reserve is full of water this morning.
UPDATE, 8.25am, Friday, January 12: Levels
The Goulburn River at Shepparton is currently showing ‘steady’ rather than ‘rising’, and is at 10.19m.
Downstream at McCoys Bridge the river remains below the minor flooding level of 9m (currently 7.29m) and upstream at Murchison it is 9.26m and falling towards the bottom end of minor flooding (9m).
UPDATE, 8am, Friday, January 12: A note
Like yesterday, with the potential severity of the situation easing, updates in this rolling coverage will likely be less frequent.
But this remains the best place to come back to when searching for news and updates on the situation.
As of 10am, Goulburn-Murray Water will increase releases from Lake Eildon to 7500 Ml per day (up from 5000 Ml over the past couple of days).
G-MW said in its update that this is still well below the minor flood level in the Goulburn River at Eildon, which is 12,700 Ml per day, and will not lead to any increased flows at Seymour or Yea.
UPDATE, 7am, Friday, January 12: Where we stand
Good morning all.
The Goulburn River at Shepparton is sitting at 10.18m and rising as of the latest reading around 45 minutes ago.
This is in a state of minor flooding.
The Seven Creeks at Kialla West is at 4.82m and steady, also in a minor flood situation.
Here’s some of yesterday’s content to get you up to speed if you missed it.
Thursday wrap: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/news/river-to-now-peak-at-shepparton-on-friday-afternoon-or-night/
Thursday rolling coverage: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/news/rolling-coverage-thursday-january-11/
Crucial information is not being lost in translation: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/news/broad-support-for-multicultural-community-during-floods/
Thursday gallery: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/news/gallery-photos-of-the-goulburn-and-broken-rivers-as-well-as-seven-creeks-thursday-january-11/
Thursday video content: https://www.sheppnews.com.au/videos/watch-afternoon-of-thursday-january-11-flood-footage/ and https://www.sheppnews.com.au/videos/watch-morning-of-thursday-january-11-flood-footage/