Thousands escape as floods take hold
THOUSANDS have been forced to flee their homes as heavy rain hammered three states, causing widespread flooding.
Large parts of Victoria, NSW and Tasmania were hit with heavy rain on Thursday night.
Residents in Victorian towns were told to leave as swollen rivers threatened communities and floods threatened the state.
Residents in central and northeastern parts of the state were those most affected.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews told ABC Radio before 9am on Friday that early indications were around 500 homes had been flooded.
Mr Andrews said one-off
emergency payments for people impacted and displaced by the floods – $580 for adults and $280 for children – would be on offer.
He also flagged possibly using the former Mickleham quarantine facility to house displaced families.
“We think there’s about 500 homes that are flooded, we think there are another 500 that have been isolated across the state,” Mr Andrews said.
“A too late to leave” order was issued for Seymour in the Mitchell Shire after the town broke flood records not experienced since May 1974.
The Goulburn River peaked at 8.26m around 3am on Friday, with residents told to seek shelter at the highest place possible.
The Maribyrnong River in
Melbourne was set to rise rapidly on Friday morning with residents along Burton Crescent, Chifley Drive and Clive St ordered to leave.
The iconic Anglers Tavern was under water, while streets in the surrounding area were also flooded.
Around 60 properties in Maribyrnong were under threat, with flood levels remaining for potentially more than a day.
“That high tide was I understand at 7.00 this morning. So we’ve had a backing up of the water,” Victoria’s emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp told The Today Show.
A “too late to leave” order was issued for low-lying areas of Benalla and Baddaginnie in the northeast of the state.
Residents in Rochester, in
central Victoria, were told to evacuate by 3am on Friday as the Campaspe River continued to rise. It was set to peak sometime on Friday afternoon, and floods could last for 10 days, the SES warned.
Dozens of Melbourne suburbs were also put on alert as the threat of flooding grew on Thursday night. Essendon, Footscray, Moonee Ponds and Keilor were among the areas where residents were told to “act now”.
The heavy rain and damaging winds were expected to clear by Friday morning. However, Mr Crisp warned the state’s flood risk wouldn’t end after Friday, or even after this weekend.
He told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell “we’re in this for a while”, with the state experiencing a “campaign flood
event”. “There is another low developing, so we’ll see, probably, that weather next Wednesday to Thursday.”
Victoria SES had responded to more than 2660 requests for assistance in the 24 hours to 7.30am on Friday.
In the NSW Central West, an evacuation order was issued for about 250 homes in Forbes by 8pm on Thursday.
In Tasmania, five evacuation orders had been issued since 7pm on Thursday night with lives at risk from fastmoving floodwaters.
Acting Tasmanian Premier Michael Ferguson said the heavy flooding and rainfall were similar to the devastating conditions of 2016, which caused three deaths and required more than 100 rescues.
The port of Devonport closed at noon on Thursday.