I never imagined I’d be a traffic controller on the main route into my home town of Echuca. But that’s how I spent nine hours on Sunday alongside other volunteers and emergency services staff: managing local roads.
On Monday, I was shocked to hear that my town may be in for a one-in-1,000-year flood event. Emergency Management Victoria representatives told us: “There are things that are happening that have never been recorded before. So I am not sugarcoating this. This is serious.”
The peak at the Echuca wharf is forecast to be 95.9m AHD. A levee bank is being built on the eastern side of town to protect the town centre. Authorities fear that existing levee banks from 150 years ago will not suffice.
If events exceed the current forecasts and the planned mitigation strategies, there’s a lot of history at risk in the Echuca historic centre.
Authorities outside the eastern levee are urging flood-prone residents to prepare their properties, and on the Vic Emergency app, evacuation is being recommended.
Those not likely to be affected are being asked to help friends and family and also fill sandbags to reinforce existing levee banks. We have been preparing for days and the countdown is on. Time will tell whether the water takes us over.
The water is just one risk. Perhaps the bigger risk is complacency or denial. Despite notices to evacuate early, more than 160 residents were rescued on Friday and Saturday in dangerous conditions.
Tinnies, telehandlers and hay trailers were the tools of the trade for the unofficial rescue party that worked continuously from early Friday afternoon until daybreak Saturday.
In nearby Rochester, a local farmer who I’ll call Joe was close to tears reflecting on the experience. Joe said he’s never seen an event like this before in his town.
After the experience of floods in 2011, the town was well prepared last week with 30,000 sandbags filled and laid.
On Friday, the river had a mind of its own and sent water west from the Campaspe Weir south of Rochester. Flood water flowed along a retired Campaspe irrigation drainage system. It hit the town from the south-west with a full head of steam.
By the end of the event the entire town was submerged, with river levels 30cm higher than 2011.
An exhausted and emotional Joe gave me advice for the people of Echuca: don’t be complacent. Follow the advice of the authorities. Sandbag to the worst-case scenario, then go higher again.
If you see a job that needs doing, stay safe and do it because the emergency services are stretched. Pitch in and help if you can. If asked to leave, please do it. Night rescues are dangerous and taxing on the residents and the rescuers.
If not able to help, stay home. Don’t clog up the roads – and stay out of the way of those working hard to save the town. It’s an emergency, not a spectacle.
While Joe never imagined he’d be a water rescuer, I never thought I would be directing traffic. It was a strange but rewarding experience dealing with distressed travellers and concerned townsfolk. But as we continue to break records, all of us will find ourselves in unexpected jobs.
Kate Burke is an agri-strategist based in Echuca.
