From tears to 'relief' as up to 70 houses escape flooding in Rochester

Residents' tears turned to sighs of relief after houses escaped being flooded when the Campapse River burst its banks again on January 9.

Ms Logie, coordinator of the Community House, said while they still weren't sure of the impact, the fact businesses on the main street could open was "wonderful".

Coffee was being handed out for free thanks to a generous local at several cafes. This "nice little surprise" summed up the support the beleaguered town had received from around the area.

The town had spent much of Monday, January 8 preparing for a major flood, with an evacuation warning issued by VicEmergency at 5.30pm.

Residents were bracing for the Campaspe River to reach between 114.8 mAHD and 115 mAHD, about 80 centimetres less than during the October 2022 floods which devastated the town.

The river peaked at 114.64 mAHD at 10.24am on Tuesday, January 9, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, leaving many roads closed but no major loss to infrastructure.

Campaspe Shire mayor Rob Amos said the response had been amazing as the town's resiliency was once again called into play.

"At the meeting we had yesterday, there was a lot of emotion, people were really concerned, people were crying, there was obviously people who were really concerned about what was going to happen," he said.

"The town really pulled together yesterday afternoon, the rec reserve, the sandbagging that got in place, the SES brought crews up from Melbourne, CFA crews from right across the district, the Army came into town,

"Everyone pulled together and prepared the town for what could have been a flood that they predicted was between 30 and 60 houses that could have had water over the floor."

Mr Amos said he was told no houses had water over the floor.

Eleven Australian Defence Force members were in Rochester, helping remove sandbags and cleaning up so that businesses and services could open.

Some Rochy residents were all smiles as they enjoyed their morning coffees, which had been provided free of charge.

Customers at The Cafe Rochester and 7 Beans Cafe were told their orders had been paid for by a generous local, according to The Cafe Rochester owner Lisa Froon.

"It's so good; we hadn't advertised that we were doing it, we just let people know when they come in and they just get a nice little surprise," Ms Froon said.

"For some people it's such a small thing, but it's so nice that people can do that, just to add a little smile when some days it's hard to smile."

Ms Froon said she had been prepariing on January 8 not to open the next day, but was told she could open by the SES early on January 9.

"It is really good that we are able to open and be that meeting point essentially for people to come and debrief and chat, catch up and go, 'how did you go? How stressed were you? What did you do?'," she said.

"It's nice to know that we're here and people can come here to do that."

While the physical impact was less than it could have been, the mental impact was just as bad, Ms Logie said.

"We're gathering our thoughts and just seeing what role we can play in regard to this response this time," she said.

"Each flood's different; for us, we are probably going to more focus on the mental health and wellbeing of the community.

"It's really going to play a huge role and have a massive impact in the community."

Ms Logie said many residents were dealing with the anxiety of being told thousands of megalitres of water was travelling down the Campaspe River.

"It's a horrible feeling, you just feel sick in the pit of your stomach," she said.

"For some people who might've been thinking that they were going to maybe stay or leave, this might just have been that push that they've just gone, 'I can't have this feeling again'.

"There is going to be a significant impact from this, even though there wasn't the physical impact like the previous one."

Mr Amos said the Shire would be "ready to go" with support for residents, once assessments were completed.

He said the municipality had more people on the ground for this flood event, compared to October 2022's.

"We've talked to all businesses before the flood to see what supports they needed," he said.

"Those conversations will be had as soon as the emergency response is over."