With a range of factors combining to create almost the perfect environmental “storm”, Victoria’s State Emergency Service is warning Goulburn Valley residents to prepare for flooding this spring and summer.
The Bureau of Meteorology has declared a La Niña event is under way in the Pacific Ocean while at the same time a significant negative Indian Ocean Dipole is occurring, leading the bureau to forecast above-average rainfall for most of the eastern half of the Australian mainland and eastern Tasmania over the next few months.
This is happening as water storages reach capacity and large areas of catchment are already saturated from regular rainfall.
With creeks and rivers experiencing minor flooding in some areas, and much of the Goulburn Valley’s population living in flood-prone zones, VICSES has warned now is the time for people to assess their risk and prepare for potential outcomes.
“We’re going to see an increase in flows in our rivers through the Goulburn Valley and that can lead to significant riverine flooding and the consequences of that,” SES manager regional operations readiness Brendan Corboy said.
“We really need people to understand their risk.
“Everyone’s risk is going to be different and that’s what we need people to understand.
“That might mean your house is directly impacted or it might mean you’re isolated for a period of time.”
Mr Corboy has urged people to go to the VICSES website and other sources to be fully informed on the risk in their area and of the forecasts or warnings at any given stage of the season.
Residents can get information on their own individual properties’ flood risk by accessing the Goulburn Broken Community Flood Intelligence Portal (link below), which provides access to the latest available flood inundation maps and property-specific flood risk reports across the Greater Shepparton and Benalla Rural cities and Moira, Strathbogie, Mitchell and Murrindindi shires.
There is good reason to check too, given the 54,600km of waterways in the combined Goulburn Broken and North East (including Murray River) catchments produce 49 per cent of the streamflow in the Murray-Darling Basin.
That is despite those catchments only accounting for four per cent of the basin’s area.
One Shepparton resident who has experienced a major flood is Willem van Zeist.
Mr van Zeist and his wife, Gail, had only lived in their Power St home in Taylors’ Estate for four years when, in 1974, the Broken River crept up on the newly developed area and inundated homes.
Their home survived thanks to Mr van Zeist having the block built up higher than the surrounding houses, not because of potential flooding, but because he thought his land was too low and he wanted to improve its drainage.
That decision would pay off later when the Broken River began to rise.
“I know there's a few others opposite, who stuck by the regulations, that got flooded,” Mr va Zeist said.
Mrs van Zeist said the floodwaters rose despite the weather being fine.
“It was sunny, it was beautiful, but the floodwater was slowly rising,” she said.
“It was so quiet. It was the quietness. There was no noise from the water. It was just creeping.”
The van Zeists say their estate has not experienced a flood like that since 1974 and Mr van Zeist said he was not concerned at this stage for another, but he did know the extreme cost of a flood, having lost his father, Gerrit, in one at Bunbartha in 1958.
“There was a flood there and my father shouldn’t have been there; he was an agricultural scientist, but he shouldn’t have been there,” he said.
“He offered to help lift bars from a lock and he toppled in and they didn’t find him for a fortnight,” Mr van Zeist said.
He left behind a wife and six children within nine years of age of each other less than two years after the family had emigrated to Australia from the Netherlands.
SES community flood risk awareness meetings
VICSES is holding community awareness meetings to help residents plan for challenging weather events.
Euroa and Violet Town
Date: Tuesday, September 27
Time: 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Venue: Euroa Cinema
Benalla
Date: Thursday, September 29
Time: 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Venue: TBC*
Shepparton, Mooroopna, Kialla communities
Date: Saturday, October 1
Time: 5.30pm
Venue: Showgrounds, McIntosh Centre
Useful emergency information
Bureau of Meteorology
For weather updates
State Emergency Service
For local flood guides, municipal flood emergency plans and information for households and business.
Australian Red Cross
For information on how to prepare an emergency kit and what to include in it.
VicEmergency
To keep up to date on all warnings.
VicRoads
For road closures.
Goulburn Broken Community Flood Intelligence Portal
Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority and several councils (Greater Shepparton and Benalla Rural cities and Moira, Strathbogie, Mitchell and Murrindindi shires have developed the portal to provide access to the latest available flood inundation maps and property-specific flood risk reports.
Goulburn-Murray Water
For fact sheets and information on flooding.
www.g-mwater.com.au/news/flood-advice
Greater Shepparton City Council
To access information to help plan, prepare, respond and recover from emergencies.
greatershepparton.com.au/community/emergencies
Goulburn Valley Water
For advice on water supply interruptions.
gvwater.vic.gov.au/service-interruptions/emergencies-and-natural-disasters/floods
For emergencies
Call 000.