SES responds to record flooding in Seymour

Drenched: The main intersection in Seymour was under water. Photo: Max Stainkamph

Seymour SES has responded to 206 jobs between Wednesday October 12 and Friday October 14 with 61 jobs on Thursday night as Seymour recorded its highest flood on record.

The river peaked at 8.26m at 3am on Friday but receded to 8.06m by 7.30am, along with Whiteheads Creek which blocked streets on Thursday.

By Friday morning, 150 Seymour residents had evacuated to the Seymour emergency relief centre.

SES Seymour controller Christine Welsh said SES crews split in two after an initial all hands on deck response. Half were sent home overnight to swing into action on Friday morning.

“Today will have a lot of requests for assistance getting out of houses,” she said.

“Rivers look like they’re going down and there shouldn’t be too much more rain.”

The evacuation orders were put in place just after 10pm, with residents given the choice to leave.

Ms Welsh said many decided to stay, but later required SES assistance.

Evacuations and rescues were mainly done by boat, with Victoria Police providing resourses through the water police and search and rescue units.

The CFA and the Department of Land, Water and Planning both assisted sandbagging and fallen trees.

Ms Welsh said there were more calls for assistance from Wednesday to Friday than the entirety of 2021.