RELATED:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
- Wimmera floods rolling coverage
- Wimmera floods | your photos, videos
- Glenorchy residents prepare for river to peak
- Lake Wallace fills
- Murtoa residents help save house
- Wimmera floods from the sky| photos, video
- Floods trap residents at Wartook, Green Lake
- Weir open along the Wimmera River
- Halls Gap roads reopen
- Crops fall after heavy rain
- Flood water flows into recreational lakes
THE worst of the Wimmera floods might still be to come with more rain predicted and rivers expected to peak from Thursday night and through the weekend.
Horsham Incident Control Centre and District 17 operations officer Trevor Ebbles said the Wimmera River near Glenorchy was expected to peak at 4.9 metres late on Thursday night.
He said the predicted peak level had increased 10 millimetres on Thursday, but the flood would not reach record levels.
“We want to make it very, very clear – this isn’t going to be a repeat of 2011,” he said.
“Our prediction is water will spill out and will break the river banks.”
Minor flooding occurred downstream of Horsham, with the Wimmera River at Quantong Bridge at 5.19 metres on Thursday and rising slowly.
Mr Ebbles said the Wimmera River in Horsham would likely exceed the minor flood level of 2.8 metres on Friday morning and would peak at the weekend or early next week.
“The potential effects in Horsham near the Riverside and those areas are a bit hard to predict,” he said.
“Certainly between Horsham Rural City Council, Victoria Police and the incident centre, we’ve door-knocked residents on Wednesday and will continue on Thursday if deemed necessary.”
Mr Ebbles said the centre worked to reduce the effect of expected stream rises near Horsham.
“At the moment you’ve got to expect minor rises in parts of the Wimmera River as water is released from the weir in Horsham,” he said.
“This is nothing to be alarmed about. It’s deliberate to create space in the weir.
“Similar releases have occurred in Dimboola and Jeparit weirs.”
Bureau of Meteorology acting severe weather manager Steven McGibbony said many places in Victoria had recorded more than twice their September rainfall before the middle of the month.
Mr McGibbony said up to 20 millimetres of rain could be expected at the weekend in parts of Victoria, which would maintain the current flood situation.
Mr McGibbony said another significant weather system would occur next week.
He said in the first 14 days of September, Hopetoun had recorded 41 millimetres, compared with its average September total of 21 millimetres. He said a low pressure system had resulted in heavy rain and extensive flooding in western Victoria.
“It’s probably the most extensive flooding we’ve seen in western Victoria since 2011,” he said.
“Not quite as bad as what we saw in 2011, but certainly the most significant since then.”