Good morning all.
It is Tuesday, January 9, and the recent severe weather across Victoria has turned into a riverine flooding event across our region once again.
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, 5.30pm, Tuesday, January 9: Where we stand
Once again, the updates in this rolling coverage will slow down overnight and renew in earnest in a Wednesday version tomorrow morning.
One of the key questions we have tried to answer throughout the day is, ‘what does 11m look like in the Goulburn River at Shepparton?’
This Nicola Ceccato story in the link below hopefully helps sum that up for you.
Looking ahead at potential flooding: sheppnews.com.au/news/11-metres-of-water-what-does-that-look-like/
Of course, while I was typing this final-ish update, I found another update for you.
Coliban Water has turned the pumps back on in the Rochester township.
UPDATE, 4.40pm, Tuesday, January 9: Murchison peak
While we were chatting with Shepparton Control Centre incident controller Ray Jasper, he told us that the peak for Murchison has been revised.
A lower peak of 10.6m is now expected in Murchison mid-morning tomorrow.
UPDATE, 4.40pm, Tuesday, January 9: Clarifying some press conference numbers
Some of you may have heard Victoria SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch say in this afternoon’s press conference that 20 houses in the Shepparton and Kialla areas may receive flooding over the floorboards.
News journalists have just checked this fact with our man on the ground in Shepparton ‒ Shepparton Control Centre incident controller Ray Jasper ‒ who is continuing to say the same thing he did this morning ‒ that no houses in the Shepparton or Mooroopna area will flood.
“We’re still confident there will be none,” he said.
Some properties will have flooding in the yards or on the street out the front.
UPDATE, 4.30pm, Tuesday, January 9: Murchison shows resilience
News reporter Kady Hadjab was in Murchison today, and spoke to a number of residents about how they were feeling in the face of impending floodwaters.
Read the full story, here: sheppnews.com.au/news/murchison-resilience-in-the-face-of-rising-waters/
UPDATE, 4pm, Tuesday, January 9: Further info from G-MW
Here’s the full story with comment from Goulburn-Murray Water on the potential operation of the Loch Garry regulator.
Will the Loch Garry regulator be operated?: sheppnews.com.au/news/g-mw-update-eildon-eppalock-and-loch-garry-situation/
UPDATE, 3.10pm, Tuesday, January 9: Rochester and Seymour update
Victoria SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch has just spoken at a press conference where he has confirmed some details about the flooding in Rochester.
The Campaspe River peaked at 114.62m ‒ which was below the forecasted 114.8m.
Coliban Water has turned off the water supply for the town to protect infrastructure from floodwater.
It is expected that this should be restored overnight Tuesday, into Wednesday, Mr Wiebusch said.
An emergency warning still remains in place for the town and Mr Wiebusch asked those people who were not from Rochester to remain away from the town.
Mr Wiebusch also updated some of the numbers from Seymour’s flood yesterday.
Seven businesses were flooded ‒ not six as earlier reported.
Four unoccupied houses and three cabins in a caravan park had flooding inside.
Another four residential properties had under-floor flooding.
UPDATE, 3pm, Tuesday, January 9: Some areas downgraded
The threat of flooding has been downgraded in the Seven and Castle Creeks and Broken catchment areas.
There is a current moderate flood warning in place for the Goulburn River between Murchison and Shepparton, and a current major flood warning in place for Seymour to Murchison.
UPDATE, 2.15pm, Tuesday, January 9: More from Rochester
The Rochester Football Netball Club has posted on social media, with news that its facilities seem to have avoided any serious damage.
Also, Emergency Management Victoria is running another press conference on the severe weather situation shortly - we’ll have any relevant updates for you from it.
UPDATE, 1.40pm, Tuesday, January 9: The view from Rochester
The Riverine Herald’s Laura Buckley has provided a visual update from Rochester.
UPDATE, 1.30pm, Tuesday, January 9: Loch Garry
Rising Goulburn River levels are likely to trigger the removal of bars from Loch Garry at Bunbartha.
Under arrangements for the Loch Garry flood protection district, when the river level reaches 10.36 metres at Shepparton, Goulburn-Murray Water will begin removing bars from the Loch, 24 hours after the trigger point has been reached.
The Flood Protection District was developed to protect lower Goulburn properties from minor flooding. The operation of Loch Garry has no effect on flood levels at Shepparton.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology the Goulburn River is likely to reach minor flood level of 9.5 metres on Wednesday afternoon, and 10.7 metres may be reached overnight on Wednesday-Thursday.
UPDATE, 1.15pm, Tuesday, January 9: Outlook for Shepparton and Mooroopna
Shepparton Incident Control Centre incident controller Ray Jasper said water should not inundate any homes or busineses in Shepparton or Mooroopna from the flood that is coming down the Goulburn River.
“This is based on the worst-case scenario of an 11m (peak),” he said.
The Broken River and Seven and Castle Creeks will also not flood any homes.
They will remain below minor flood level for now with the water travelling down those waterways, however, levels are expected to move to a moderate status because of back-flow from the Goulburn River.
No houses in Shepparton are predicted to flood from these systems either.
The Goulburn River peak is predicted to hit Shepparton between 3pm and 8pm on Wednesday.
Mr Jasper, however, warned that some streets and roads would flood, including Watt Rd and Raftery Rd in Kialla.
The causeway, however, is expected to remain open.
Other residential streets are also expected to flood, but Mr Jasper said the peak was only expected to last for four or five hours.
This means some houses would be cut off on Wednesday afternoon or night, but would drop noticeably on Thursday.
Mr Jasper warned people not to walk or drive through the floodwater.
He also asked people to remain vigilant and if they were concerned floodwater was going to enter their home, they should call the SES on 132 500 for help.
UPDATE, 1pm, Tuesday, January 9: What the river looks like at the moment
Here’s a view from behind the lens of senior photographer Megan Fisher.
UPDATE, 12.45pm, Tuesday, January 9: Outlook for Murchison
Shepparton Incident Control Centre incident controller Ray Jasper said no houses were predicted to have floodwater through them in Murchison.
He said five houses were doorknocked this morning to warn that their properties would be isolated - but even then he said authorities were not predicting any inundation of them.
The owners of River Haven Caravan Park - which has not re-opened since the 2022 flood - moved some of its assets from lower in the park to higher ground.
Mr Jasper predicted a moderate flood, with a peak of about 10.7m around 10pm tonight.
He said people should be “vigilant, but not alarmed” by the floodwater.
UPDATE, 12.30pm, Tuesday, January 9: How Seymour, Yea and Avenel fared
It’s Monique Preston back on the blog again.
I have just had a chat to incident controller Ray Jasper at the Shepparton Incident Control Centre about how Seymour, Yea and Avenel fared yesterday and last night with flooding
He also talked about what Murchison and Shepparton should expect, but more on that shortly.
In Seymour, the Goulburn River peaked at 6.8m ‒ about 20cm below what had been earlier predicted.
Mr Jasper said six businesses had water through them.
Eight to 10 houses that had been flooded in the October 2022 flood and had not been fixed up and were not being lived in, also flooded on Monday.
Forty-three people also spent the night in the Seymour Relief Centre, with another 12 caravans also parked up with occupants in them at the relief centre.
Yea saw the biggest flood it has had in decades, with a one in 100 year flood recorded.
Six homes in the town were flooded.
In Avenel, the Hughes Creek came up quickly on Monday, but Mr Jasper said no houses were flooded.
UPDATE, 11.40am, Tuesday, January 9: More on sandbags
Around 5000 sandbags were filled at the Shepparton Showgrounds yesterday, with about 45 residents coming through to collect some.
The site will remain open until 8pm tonight and will be open from 8am-8pm tomorrow.
UPDATE, 11.30am, Tuesday, January 9: Flows increasing from Eildon
Goulburn-Murray Water has provided an update on the ongoing flooding in the Goulburn catchment.
This event has been primarily triggered by substantial flows in the tributaries and creeks downstream of Lake Eildon.
At its peak on Monday, January 8, the Goulburn River at Seymour witnessed a daily flow of approximately 66,000 Ml (megalitres).
During this period, Lake Eildon’s releases were maintained at a rate of 1000 Ml per day.
As of 10am on Tuesday, January 9, these releases have been increased to 3000 Ml per day.
This remains well below the minor flood level, which is set at 12,700 Ml per day.
Further adjustments may be required in the days ahead, although these releases will consistently be maintained below the minor flood level.
The Campaspe River at Barnadown is experiencing flows exceeding 42,700 Ml per day, with spills from Eppalock averaging about 3800 Ml per day.
Lake Eppalock itself reached a peak flow of approximately 6600 Ml per day at 1am on Tuesday morning.
This level remains below the minor flood threshold.
It is anticipated that water will continue to spill from Lake Eppalock over several days as the storage level gradually decreases.
Hourly inflows into Eppalock reached a peak of 115,000 Ml per day at 2am on Monday, but by 2pm, they had reduced to approximately 50,000 Ml per day.
UPDATE, 11.20am, Tuesday, January 9: Messaging
It’s really important to highlight that the messaging coming from official channels is that this flood event will be vastly different to October 2022 in Shepparton.
The latest from Greater Shepparton City Council is that, “the current forecast indicates the worst case scenario will be for low-end major flooding causing the isolation (as opposed to inundation) of properties in low-lying areas.”
Some handy tools to use to check how your property will be affected by that level of water in the Goulburn River (with 11m being the lowest end of major flooding at Shepparton) 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
UPDATE, 11.18am, Tuesday, January 9: Road closures
We’ll provide running updates on road closures as they come to light here: sheppnews.com.au/news/road-closure-updates-stay-up-to-date-on-road-closures-due-to-floods/
Please do not drive through floodwaters, it may be the last decision you make.
If you see any roads which are closed and not on our list, please let us know.
UPDATE, 11.15am, Tuesday, January 9: Sandbags
Sandbags are available again in Shepparton today, as well as in Murchison.
You can collect them at the Shepparton Showgrounds or at the Murchison Recreation Reserve.
UPDATE, 11am, Tuesday, January 9: Photos from Murchison
Here’s what the Goulburn looks like at Murchison at the moment.
UPDATE, 10.45am, Tuesday, January 9: River levels
The Goulburn River at Murchison is at 9.16m and rising - exceeding the minor flood level of 9m.
At Shepparton, the Goulburn River has reached 6.22m.
Both the Seven and Castle Creeks and Broken catchment areas are holding steady.
The Seven Creeks at Euroa is the only section across those two catchment areas in minor flood, currently at 2.72m which is just above minor (2.5m).
UPDATE, 10.10am, Tuesday, January 9: A look at Seymour
The Goulburn River at Seymour is at 5.82m and is staying steady in a state of moderate flooding.
It has gradually fallen since hitting 6.8m at around 4pm last night.
UPDATE, 9.50am, Tuesday, January 9: Woman rescued from floodwaters
A woman in her 70s was swept away in floodwaters in Elmore last night, police say.
Police have been told the woman was driving in convoy with a friend, along Elmore-Raywood Rd, when their vehicles were impacted by flood water about 7.15pm.
One of the vehicles, containing the 74-year-old woman, was swept off the road into Bendigo Creek at Naughtons Bridge before it travelled about 100m downstream.
The Eaglehawk woman was able to make her way to a tree before a passer-by stepped in and swam out to the woman to help.
It is believed the local man, known as Mitch, swam out to the woman several times before he was able to use a ratchet strap to secure the woman to the tree.
Mitch then stayed with the woman making sure she was okay, for up to an hour, while emergency services responded and headed to the scene.
State Emergency Service personnel were first on scene before two Victoria Police Swift Water Rescue Teams arrived.
The teams, including members from both the Water Police and Search and Rescue Squad, deployed a vessel into the water to rescue the pair.
The pair were rescued and checked over by Ambulance Paramedics and, luckily, weren’t injured.
The woman from the other vehicle, even though surrounded by floodwater was very lucky her car wasn’t swept away. She was assisted by members of the public and made it dry ground.
UPDATE, 9.15am, Tuesday, January 9: Word from G-MW
Goulburn-Murray Water provided an update last night on both Lake Eildon and Lake Eppalock.
Releases from Eildon are at 1000ML per day and expected to remain there for the time being.
UPDATE, 9am, Tuesday, January 9: Other warnings
We will have more information and photos from Seymour shortly.
The current warning in place for Rochester is that it remains too late to leave.
The major road closures are the Midland Hwy/Bendigo-Murchison Rd and Prairie-Rochester Rd/Northern Hwy.
UPDATE, 7am, Tuesday, January 9: Overnight outlook
Hi all, Tyler Maher here kicking off another rolling coverage blog.
We will elaborate on the overnight situation as the morning progresses - including across the wider region - but here’s the latest flood warnings which have been pushed out for Shepparton.
A moderate flood warning has been issued for the Goulburn River from Murchison to Shepparton.
The watch and act notice indicates that moderate flooding is possible at Shepparton overnight Wednesday into Thursday.
The Goulburn River at Shepparton is currently at 5.65m and steady, but is likely to exceed the minor flood level of 9.5m on Wednesday afternoon.
It may reach 10.7m (moderate) overnight Wednesday into Thursday and further rises are possible after that.
At 10.7m Watt Rd and Raftery Rd, Kialla, will have started to flood.
There is also a major flood warning in place from Seymour to Murchison on the Goulburn River.
Major flooding is possible at Murchison overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
The river level at Murchison is currently 8.62m and rising, but will exceed the minor flood level of 9m sometime this morning.
It is likely to exceed the moderate flood level of 10.2m this afternoon and may reach the major flood level of 10.7m overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
Residents should move to higher ground.
Here are some of the likely impacts in Murchison at these levels.
Impacts in your area:
- High river levels and potential flooding in areas close to rivers and streams.
- Flooding above floor level of a single-story home is likely to occur in many locations.
- Evacuation of some houses may be required.
- A small number of properties are likely to be impacted and possibly become isolated in the Old Weir Rd area.
- Low-lying rural properties upstream and downstream of Murchison likely to be flooded which may require the moving of stock and equipment to higher ground and the closure of some local roads and the Campbells Bend camping and fishing spots north of the Bridge.
- At 10.15 m, during the 2010 flood, the River Haven caravan park residents and caravans were relocated to higher ground.
Road closures:
Main roads and bridges may be closed due to flooding.
For more information on road closures go to traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au
The Bendigo-Murchison Rd is closed between Colbinabbin and Rushworth, speed limits are also in place along this road due to road surface damage west of the Cattanach Canal.
For yesterday’s rolling coverage - which includes a lot of regular safety messaging around floods and sever weather - click the link below.
Monday rolling coverage: sheppnews.com.au/news/rolling-coverage-sandbags-available-in-shepparton/
You can also see other stories from yesterday in these links.
Council prepares sandbags for Greater Shepparton: sheppnews.com.au/news/sheppartons-council-prepares-sandbags-for-city/
The situation as it stands on Monday night: sheppnews.com.au/news/regions-severe-weather-event-the-situation-as-it-stands-on-monday-night/