Flood warnings continue after wild weather batters region

UPDATE 7.40am: 

In the 22-hours from 9am yesterday through 7am this morning, the SES received 117 call-outs in the northwest region for assistance.

The majority of those were from the Bendigo and Castlemaine area, a Bendigo Incident Control Centre spokesperson said.

“The vast majority have been around tree hazards – trees falling down on roads and affecting traffic accounted for 74 of those call-outs,” the spokesperson said.

“Trees down elsewhere accounted for 18 of those call-outs.”

In addition, SES has been hard at work managing floodwaters.

“So we’ve had people in Charlton sandbagging, which doesn’t come up in those figures,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re continuing to work to support the community because the strong winds combined with the soggy ground means trees are likely to still come down.

“We encourage residents to call 132 500 if they need assistance, unless it’s life threatening, in which case they should call 000.”

UPDATE 7.20am Wednesday:

A flood watch remains current for north west Victoria, including the Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca and Wimmera basins.

​There are major flood warnings still current for the Loddon and Avoca rivers.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a final flood warning for the Campaspe River. 

BoM said minor flooding had now eased in the Campaspe River above Lake Eppalock.

The Campaspe River at Redesdale fell below the minor flood level (2.0 metres) around midday Tuesday.

Stream rises are expected in the the Campaspe River below Lake Eppalock during the next few days. River levels are expected to remain below minor flood levels.

In the 24 hours to 9 am Tuesday, rainfall totals of up to 20 millimetres have been recorded in the North West catchments with isolated totals of 51mm at Mt William and 27mm at Edenhope. Since 9 am rainfall totals of up to 10mm have been recorded.

Rainfall totals of 5 to 10mm have been forecast for the remainder of Tuesday into Wednesday.

Stream rises are occurring in the North West catchments as a result of rainfall to date, causing flooding across the North West Catchments.

UPDATE 9pm: Bendigo’s SES unit has received about 55 call-outs in just the past five hours.

Spokeswoman Natalie Stanway said there were still six crews out responding to calls for assistance, which had mostly been related to fallen trees and associated damage.

There had also been a handful of call-outs for building damage that had not been caused by trees, she said, such as roofing sheets being blown off by the wind.

Ms Stanway said people needed to remain “extremely cautious” around trees for the next few days, even when the wind was not blowing, until the ground began to dry.

She said their root systems became unstable in the wet earth and they were prone to falling, especially the large ones.

People should avoid parking, walking and camping underneath trees, she said.

Ms Stanway reminded people to stay clear of floodwaters and keep up-to-date with road closures on the VicRoads website.

She thanked SES volunteers’ employers and families for their support and giving the volunteers the time to go out and help the community.

Anyone in need of assistance can call the SES on 132 500. For life-threatening emergencies, call 000.

UPDATE 7.50pm: There are still power outages at number of locations across the region.

According to Powercor, 31 customers have been affected by an outage at Castlemaine which was caused by a tree, with power not expected to be restored until 9pm.

At Bealiba a power outage has affected another 51 properties, where Powercor estimates power will be back at 9.30pm.

Sixteen customers at Malmsbury are expected to be without power until about 11.30pm.

Several other properties have also lost power, in such places as Myers Flat, Golden Square, Strathdale, Lockington, Harcourt and Elphinstone.

UPDATE 7.45pm: Homeowners in Kangaroo Flat were lucky to avoid more extensive damage when a tree fell and hit their home.

Bweh Htoo and Say Nah were at home watching television on Tuesday afternoon when they heard a large bang.

When they looked outside they realised a tree on the nature strip at the front of their home had fallen onto the verandah roof, causing some damage.

UPDATE 7pm: Cairn Curran has reached moderate flood levels.

UPDATE 6.25: The Bendigo SES has responded to more than 25 calls since 4pm.

Most calls relate to trees coming down, many of which are falling through power lines.

The SES warns you should not approach fallen power lines and assume they are live.

Damaged power lines should be reported to Powercor’s emergency line on 1300 653 598. 

For SES assistance, phone 132 500.

UPDATE 6.10pm: Those wishing to cross the border into New South Wales at Echuca are unable to do so. 

A tree has fallen across the bridge, blocking traffic in both directions and preventing people travelling between border towns.

UPDATE, 5.55pm: Emergency crews and strike teams were busy door-knocking and relaying information to residents on Monday.

Victoria SES spokesman Stan Hendy said emergency crews will remain in town until later in the week.

“SES crews came into town to help do some preparation work on the basis of last time,” he said.

“Over next the couple of days we will maintain a presence in town until after the river peaks and starts to drop off. Another lot of crews will arrive to help support locals when the peak arrives. 

Extra police resources will also arrive in town to help residents.

Downstream of Charlton, the Avoca River at Quambatook was at 1.18 metres and steady on Monday.

Forecasts for Quambatook will be provided once the peak at Charlton occurs.

The Avoca River reached 4.25 metres at Archdale Junction and 4.8 metres at Yawong Weir.

UPDATE, 5.05pm: Powercor is reporting a power outage affecting more than 1500 premises in Bendigo’s north.

A fault at Barker Street, California Gully, has taken out power to 836 premises in Eaglehawk, 282 in Sailors Gully, 168 in Myers Flat, 164 in California Gully and 23 in Woodvale.

Powercor estimates the power could be out until 8.30pm.

UPDATE, 4.35pm: The Bureau of Meteorology says wind gusts up to 90 kilometres per hour could be hitting Bendigo at the moment, as the SES responds to several calls of fallen trees.

The strongest wind gusts recorded in Bendigo today are 67 kilometres per hour.

Duty forecaster Stuart Coombs said it was a similar situation across much of the state.

“We are seeing short lines of showers cross the state at the moment, briefly bringing winds up to the speed needed to dislodge trees,” he said.

“With the amount of moisture in the soil at the moment, it wouldn’t take very high winds to tip trees over.”

Mr Coombs expected the winds to ease this evening, about 7 to 8pm.

At least 10 trees have come down in the wind gust, including one which has brought down a power line on Strathfieldsaye Road near Thornton Court in Strathfieldsaye.

Reports of trees down include:

Reports of building damage:

UPDATE, 3.15pm: The Avoca River is expected to reach 7.2m tonight before peaking tomorrow night.

About 200 people attended the community meeting at Charlton community hall.

North Central Catchment Management Authority's Camille White said the CMA believed the peak would be lower than flooding three weeks ago.

“It is the same volume as a few weeks ago, so the plan is to prepare for something similar to a few weeks ago,” she said.

“That is the key message – plan for what we had three weeks ago but there should be less.”

Ms White said there is a delay because of a “double peak” upstream at Yeungroon.

“That peaked yesterday and it hasn't reached Coonooer Bridge but it should tonight,” she said.

“That means the river will slowly rise tonight and peak tomorrow night or possibly into Thursday morning.”

Rising floodwaters are expected to close the Calder Highway at some point but emergency crews will keep the arterial road openas along as possible.  

UPDATE, 12.45pm: Council workers are busy constructing a second temporary floodway on the outskirts of Charlton.

The excavation on Back St Arnaud Road comes after a successful floodway was constructed on Charlton-St Arnaud Road three weeks ago.

It is expected that floodwaters arriving later today will be able to be diverted around the town.

Waters that hit the Charlton-St Arnaud Road floodway will go west while Back St Arnaud Road waters will go east around the township.

The success of the initial temporary floodway means it is likely to become permanent.

UPDATE, 11.55am: SES and CFA crews in Charlton are expecting a similar flood event to three weeks ago.

SES section commander Jodi Munro-Foord said the Avoca River should rise to 7m by lunch and hit a peak of between 7.3 and 7.5 metres tonight.

“Strike teams are on site now. Residents should be prepared and know what to do as well as keeping an eye on the weather conditions,” she said.

A community meeting is planned for 2pm at the Charlton Town hall but Ms Munro-Foord said residents should make sure they are prepared for floodwaters.

“We are doorknocking during the day before the 2pm community meeting,” she said.

“It will be the same message as last time which is this is not an evacuation, the message is to be prepared.”

Ms Munro-Foord said she hoped residents would be prepared given the flood activity in recent weeks.

“As with any weather event there are going to be people who are very nervous,” she said.

“We don't want anybody to panic. This isn't the first rodeo for Charlton. They have been through a number of floods before and are very well verse and strong, community-minded people.”

Crews will complete some sandbagging as well as be monitoring conditions continually.

No major road closures have been reported so far but local roads and some highways are expected to be cut off later today.

“There is water over the road in parts, so we remind people not to drive through floodwaters,” Ms Munro-Foord said.

“One of the worst phone calls we get is people stuck in floodwaters. The Calder Highway to Wycheproof isn't far off being closed.” 

UPDATE 11.30am: The severe weather warning for damaging winds is still in place.

The Bureau of Meteorology is still forecasting winds averaging 50 to 60km/h with damaging peak gusts 90 to 95km/h possible over the South West and Wimmera districts and also over parts of the Mallee, Northern Country, North Central, Central, Northeast, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland districts.

Damaging winds are most likely to occur with showers and thunderstorms, at higher elevations and along the exposed coast. 

Winds are expected to ease in the late afternoon and evening. 

EARLIER: A severe weather warning has been issued for Bendigo and major flood warnings will again impact large parts of central Victoria.

SES North West incident control centre public information officer Gemma Nesbit-Sackville said the Loddon and Avoca rivers were under major flood warnings, while a minor flood warning applied for the Campaspe River.

“The current situation is catchments across the north west region remain saturated due to the rain from last month, and showers are expected for the next 24 hours hours of between 4-10 millimetres,” Ms Nesbit-Sackville said.

“But it is possible – given the severe weather warning – that there may be isolated higher falls, so we ask that people remain vigilant checking their local forecast areas.”

The SES information officer said there was a major flood warning for the Loddon River, between the Laanecoorie Reservoir and the Loddon Weir and a major flood warning out for flood for Avoca River – with SES concerns focused on Charlton.

“Yawong Weir peaked at its major flood level at around about midnight and is now falling, which means the water is now moving towards the town of Charlton,” she said.

“We’re expecting the major flood level between Tuesday night and Wednesday lunch, but are asking people to continue to check as these situations can be quite dynamic.”

SES is monitoring the Campaspe below Eppalock, where water levels are currently rising, but Ms Nesbit-Sackville said there was no potential concern for major flooding at this point. 

She asked that all residents remain vigilant. 

“Part of the severe weather warning is for the potential for damaging winds, with the average speeds of around 50 kilmotres per hour and gusts of around 95km/h,” she said. 

“So we ask people to stay away from trees and tie down items – with how wet everything gusts like that have the potential to knock trees down so we ask people take care of themselves, their loved ones and their pets.”

BoM also issued a severe weather warning this morning warning for people across the South West, North Central, Wimmera and parts of the Central, East Gippsland, Mallee, Northern Country, North East and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts for severe weather.

“A cold front embedded in a vigorous westerly airflow will rapidly cross Victoria on Tuesday,” the warning reads.

“Damaging winds averaging 50 to 60 kilometres per hour with gusts to around 95 km/h over the South West will extend to North Central, Wimmera and parts of the Central, East Gippsland, Mallee, Northern Country, North East and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts later this morning.

“Damaging winds are most likely to occur with showers and thunderstorms, at higher elevations and along the exposed coast. 

“Winds are expected to ease in the late afternoon and evening. 

Locations which may be affected include Horsham, Warrnambool, Bendigo, Seymour, Maryborough, Ballarat and Geelong.” 

The Loddon River is experiencing major flooding upstream of Laanecoorie and around the Loddon Weir, with minor flooding occurring in the Lower Loddon River and upstream of Laanecoorie.

The State Emergency Service advises that people should: 

* Move vehicles under cover or away from trees; 

* Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony; 

* Keep clear of fallen power lines; 

Current Emergency Information is available at http://emergency.vic.gov.au 

For emergency assistance contact the SES on 132 500.

Current Road and Traffic Information is available at the VicRoads website: http://traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au/