Man dead in Vic floods, more cash relief

Kaitlyn Offer, Mibenge Nsenduluka and Rachael Ward | October 19, 2022

The death toll from Victoria’s floods has grown to two, as communities hit by the devastating floods are offered more cash relief.

An evacuation order was issued in the Northern Victorian town of Kerang on Wednesday afternoon with the town expected to be cut off once the Patchell Bridge on the Murray Valley Highway closes at 7pm.

It’s one of four active evacuation orders for communities in the north of the state.

On Wednesday morning, the body of a 65-year-old man was found in floodwaters on Paynes Road at Nathalia near Shepparton.

A search began about 10pm Tuesday when he failed to return home and his unoccupied tractor was found in floodwaters.

His death follows that of a 71-year-old Rochester man on Saturday.

As towns along the swollen Murray River system brace for thunderstorms, the Australian and Victorian governments announced a joint-funded relief package.

It means homes and businesses destroyed or damaged can have the properties cleared of hazards at no cost and the first phase will be coordinated by Emergency Recovery Victoria.

“The first step in rebuilding is ensuring properties are made safe and hazardous debris isn’t putting families at risk – it’s an enormous job but we’ll be there with Victorians every step of the way,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

With the floods hitting prime agricultural areas, the state government has announced a $73.5 million relief package to help farmers and business owners clean up, including $10,000 grants for primary producers.

“It’s pretty overwhelming thinking about what’s occurring and has occurred in some of these communities. So any support we provide is really important,” Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters.

Waters in parts of the state such as Shepparton and Rochester continue to recede and the threat of heavy rainfalls during forecast thunderstorms in coming days has eased slightly.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms on Thursday are now expected  across the northern districts.

On Friday and Saturday, widespread showers will generally see totals of two millimetres to 10mm, but higher falls of 30mm could happen in north-central parts and north-eastern parts of Victoria.

“We’ll be watching that thunderstorm activity pretty closely and issuing warnings for more of a flash flood risk rather than heavy rainfall over a wider area,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Kevin Parkin told reporters.

Evacuation warnings are in place for Echuca and the smaller towns of Barmah and Lower Moira.

At Echuca, there are concerns river levels could reach 95 metres, higher than during the 1993 floods, by Friday.

Despite the evacuation orders, Echuca is a hive of activity as dozens of people prepare sandbags in the centre of town, while others prepare their homes.

Residents have spent the past few days building a makeshift, 2.5-kilometre flood levee of sandbags and sand to protect thousands of homes and businesses.

However, the wall has divided the town in two, leaving properties and people on the wrong side susceptible to being inundated.

One resident told AAP she was grateful the levee was built but extremely concerned if the waters ran over the dirt wall sending privately owned houseboats parked along the Murray into her property.

State Emergency Service chief operating officer Tim Wiebusch defended the wall, but agreed there were some risks.

“Yes, that will see a small number of properties outside of that levee also potentially be impacted,” he said.

Flood warnings are also in place for towns along the Loddon, Campaspe and Goulburn rivers.

On Wednesday, a 3.4 magnitude earthquake sent a shudder near Mansfield, with no reports of damage.