General News
17 October, 2022
Central Goldfields communities pull together in wake of local flooding to provide support
Destroyed roads, flooded vehicles and inundated properties are what’s left in the wake of last week’s deluge, which saw Carisbrook evacuated and all exits from the shire closed due to flood water. More than 70 millimetres of rain fell in the...
Destroyed roads, flooded vehicles and inundated properties are what’s left in the wake of last week’s deluge, which saw Carisbrook evacuated and all exits from the shire closed due to flood water.
More than 70 millimetres of rain fell in the district, including in the towns of Maryborough, Avoca and Dunolly across Wednesday and Thursday last week, dumping more water onto what was already saturated ground after flash flooding the week prior.
The Trigger to Evacuate
Carisbrook residents begin evacuating last Thursday.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) had issued a severe weather warning for Maryborough on Wednesday afternoon and a community information session was held in Carisbrook on Thursday morning, before an evacuation order was issued for the town at 7 pm that night as emergency services prepared for the worst.
Emergency services were kept busy Thursday night and for much of Friday, with the SES responding to a total 87 requests for assistance.
Maryborough SES unit controller Darren Cooper said emergency services had learnt from the lessons of past flooding in 2011 and 2016 and acted early.
“We were watching the water flow over the Tullaroop Reservoir and McCallums Creek very closely and we knew that at approximately 20,000 megalitres per hour flowing through Deep Creek, there is a risk of inundation for Carisbrook,” he said.
“When the amount of water approached that trigger we put in a request for an evacuation order.
“You’ve got to weigh up the inconvenience against the risk to life, thankfully Deep Creek didn’t break that point of going into Carisbrook but if you look at the water marks on the road, you can see how close it was — it was only a matter of a small amount of water that would have caused a severe inundation of Carisbrook proper.
“We also wanted that evacuation order in early so people weren’t evacuating in knee deep water, especially with elderly residents.
“We had prepared for the worst and fortunately, nature was kind but it was very close — late in the evening on Thursday we recorded in excess of 52,000 megalitres of water travelling through Deep Creek.”
The Impact On The Ground
Thankfully for a majority of Carisbrook residents, Deep Creek did not rise enough for the town to suffer widespread flooding, however properties backing onto the creek in Bucknall Street weren’t as fortunate.
Simon, who owns a weekend property on Bucknall Street evacuated Carisbrook on Thursday night and said returning on Friday to see the damage caused by floodwater was “heartbreaking”.
“Everyone knew there was the possibility of severe weather, it’s just turned out more severe than what we wished for,” he said.
“It was heartbreaking coming back and seeing what had happened but that’s the reality of what we have to deal with now.
“This house has a couple of levels but all of the impact has been to the understory and lower level.”
Simon purchased the property in 2013 and during flooding in 2016, saw water come within metres of his doorstep.
“I came down earlier in the week to do as much preparation as possible and moving forward it’s just tidying the place up,” he said.
“You can sit on the couch and do nothing or you can have a crack — we like it here in Carisbrook, we know the creek is there and that’s one of the reasons we bought the property but we also know it’s dangerous, that’s a risk we’ve taken.
“The efforts of volunteers and the community have been fantastic, I think we’re very lucky to have the community that we do.”
The Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre was set up as a temporary relief centre for Carisbrook residents who evacuated, with 120 people registering and 70 staying overnight on Thursday, including 18 people from outside the shire.
Most residents self evacuated to the centre, however emergency services also ran buses to support residents trying to leave Carisbrook, with other community members quick to offer support.
One of these residents, Brett Pickering, had helped transport animals in flood affected areas including Talbot and Carisbrook to safety and helped cook meals at the relief centre and said he was prepared to do whatever he could to support the community.
“Donna Longmuir (Burgz owner) mentioned to me that she’d offered to cook breakfast for the people staying at the centre on Friday morning and I was more than happy to lend a hand,” he said.
“We got down there at 6 am and cooked breakfast for as long as we could or until everyone was fed and we would have cooked close to 100 egg and bacon sandwiches for the people staying there.
“Everyone that was coming past thanked us for our efforts and said we’d done a wonderful job which I appreciate, but it was more my pleasure knowing I was helping and giving something back to the community when people were in so much need.
“Any little thing I could do to help out and give back to the community, I was prepared to do.”
Emergency Services Respond
Emergency services have praised the preparation and early work of property owners in areas prone to flooding, including Carisbrook, Talbot and Dunolly.
“We had people coming to the unit asking for sandbags in the lead up to be prepared and we had in excess of 60 vehicles collect sandbags from us on Tuesday night at our collection point which was great,” Mr Cooper said.
“People only requesting assistance when they needed it for situations that were beyond their own control was good as well because it meant we could attend calls for help that might have had a higher priority.”
There was frustration at the number of drivers ignoring messaging not to drive through flood waters, with the local SES unit receiving 16 calls to rescue people trapped in vehicles.
One incident in Wareek on Thursday night saw two elderly residents stuck in their vehicle after attempting to drive across the Bet Bet Creek on the Maryborough-St Arnaud Road and were taken to hospital for observation.
On Friday morning, a man drove his truck into flood waters on the Dunolly-Timor Road at Timor, becoming stranded and requiring Fire Rescue Victoria to travel from Bendigo with watercraft to rescue him.
“People don’t realise the length of time it can take us to get to them and they don’t consider that if rescue crews have to drive through flood waters to get to them, those crews are risking their lives,” Mr Cooper said.
“There’s a big emphasis on not driving through flood waters because it could be the last decision you ever make and I think people also need to remember that if you’re driving a vehicle with family or friends in the car and you drive into flood waters, you could be making the last decision for your loved ones as well.
“We often hear people say they know a road like the back of their hand and they’ve driven on it a thousand times, but under water the road you know might not be there anymore.
“The decision to drive through flood water can very quickly become the last decision you make.”
More rain is forecast for later this week, with anywhere between 23 and 65 millimetres predicted to fall on the region from Thursday through to Sunday.
Emergency services are remaining vigilant and will continue to monitor conditions moving forward.
