Residents of Victorian town returning home after leaking dam forced evacuation

Emergency services have told 100 people living in a coastal Victorian town they are able to return home after volunteers worked for two days to secure a 180-megalitre private dam that was found to be leaking on Friday.

Volunteers knocked on doors at over 40 homes in Torquay, about 80km south-west of Melbourne, on Saturday afternoon telling 109 people to leave due to fears the privately owned dam could burst.

Some had reported water flooding into their properties on Friday afternoon.

A few residents refused to go despite water entering the yards of a number of properties near the southern edge of the dam. They said there was floodwater inside their homes.

Most affected residents have spent the past two nights away from home.

On Sunday afternoon, the Victorian State Emergency Service said residents would be able to return to their homes from 5pm. An information point will be set up at the corner of Pintail Drive and Cosy Avenue in Torquay from 5pm to 8pm.

Volunteers from the SES and the Country Fire Authority have been pumping water out of the dam after engineers said the water level needed to be lowered by at least 2 metres. They wanted 60 megalitres removed to reduce the risk, with the water being pumped across nearby farmland. Pumping will continue overnight into Monday.

The source of the leak has yet to be identified. The dam houses recycled water so people have been advised not to play in it.

Officers from the Environmental Protection Authority checked the dam on Saturday and tested it for possible contaminants. The dam contains class C recycled water, which is regulated by the EPA and often used by councils and housing estates for irrigation.