Albury Braces For Full Fury Of Floods
Sydney Morning Herald
Sunday October 18, 1992
Residents of the southern border city of Albury were waiting anxiously last night to see whether their worst flood in 17 years had peaked.
During a weekend of heavy rains and violent thunderstorms, nine people were evacuated from their homes and about 30 houses were flooded.
With more rain forecast today, government officials and emergency workers expect major problems if river levels reach 5.5 metres - last night's peak was 5.3 metres.
About 60 State Emergency Service volunteers and 20 Army apprentices worked in the city over the weekend helping evacuated families or farmers who were forced to move stock from lowing-lying areas.
Meanwhile, north-eastern Victoria was sodden and devastated after 48 hours of freak rains swelled rivers and creeks to flood levels.
By late yesterday dozens of Victorian families had been evacuated to emergency accommodation and residents were seeking government relief.
The SES reported that the towns of Euroa, about 150 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, and Nagambie - where 100 caravans were flooded - were worst-hit, with at least 30 homes badly damaged by water and 10 families evacuated.
The floodwaters were expected to reach Shepparton this morning and Echuca later today, causing similar damage.
The Victorian SES was also monitoring water levels at many low-lying towns along the Murray.
By late yesterday, as many Albury locals mopped up, the SES estimated flood damage to urban and rural properties at more than $1 million.
The Murray continued to rise slowly through the day, breaching its banks in several places below Albury. In the city, most of the flooding was caused by run-off, which had largely dissipated by the end of the day.
Landholders in low-lying country were forced to move hundreds of cattle, sheep and horses onto higher ground.
Some stock had to be swum out of flooded properties.
Thousands of sightseers gathered at the Hume Dam to see the spectacular volume of water cascading over the spillway.
The dam is at 100 per cent capacity and last night water was being released at the rate of 90,000 megalitres a day.
Department of Water Resources officers said they would increase the release rate through the night if necessary.
The Hume Highway was cut for two hours yesterday morning when levy pumps became overwhelmed.
At Howlong, 29 kilometres west of Albury, the SES was called to four properties in danger of being flooded, and there was concern that the situation could worsen.
The local SES controller, Mr Howard Alcott, said: "If we get another storm we are in for it; if not, it is a matter of waiting to see what comes down the river."
Many people in Albury and on surrounding properties were critical of the Department of Water Resources for allowing the Hume Dam to become so full that it could not cope with flood mitigation.
One property owner, Mrs Mary Norman, had to move 60 bullocks, 75 cows and calves and 20 horses.
"The flood is costing us money," she said. "We have sent all our cattle on agistment. The water damages the fences and the grass, which takes a long time to recover."
In Victoria, rivers and creeks across the north of the State broke their banks as unusual rain patterns dumped between 50 and 60 millimetres in the north-east, including the areas around Seymour, Rochester and Yea, on Friday night.
On Saturday, thunderstorms drenched small, concentrated areas of the north, and between 25 and 50 millimetres of rain fell in the north-east on Saturday night.
By late yesterday, more than 200 northern Victorian residents began cleaning up damaged houses and caravans after rain-swollen rivers flooded, forcing emergency workers to evacuate some areas and sandbag others.
Mr Richard Scott, the State duty officer for the SES, said he was expecting Shepparton and Echuca to be hit as badly as Nagambie, where 100 caravans were flooded, and Euroa, where 30 houses were flooded with up to a metre of water, 10 families were evacuated, and the sealed road to Mansfield made unusable for two weeks because of landslips and cracks in the road.
The Euroa Shire secretary, Ms Joanne Anderson, said it was "the worst flooding in our memory".
She said many people would need Community Services hardship grants, especially in cases where their insurance policies did not cover the flood damage.
"It's going to be an expensive clean-up operation," she said.
Last night, the Ovens Highway east of Wangaratta was still closed by flooding, and a landslip, expected to take several days to clear, had closed the Omeo Highway between the Murray Valley Highway and Lockhart's Gap.
Water from the flooded areas has not yet reached the Murray, which is already swollen and flowing rapidly due to overflows at the Dartmouth Dam and the Hume and Eildon weirs.
Melting snow is also expected to contribute to the near-capacity Murray.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings along the Murray from Albury to Wakool Junction, near the junction of the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers.
Mr Philip Buckle, the manager of Community Services Victoria - the disaster support and recovery unit - said more than 200 people were affected by flooded homes and caravans.
© 1992 Sydney Morning Herald
