As floods sweep the state, Shepparton, a municipality in central Victoria, has been placed on high alert.
Residents have been informed that floodwaters might reach 12 meters by Saturday night and shatter the 1974 flood record.
Thousands of Victorians have been ordered to leave their houses, and hundreds more have been cut off and forced to find refuge elsewhere as a result of authorities’ approval to use the brand-new, unoccupied $580 million Mickleham Covid quarantine facility as emergency housing.
Authorities are warning that sodden catchments will provide a weeks-long flood danger as a result of days of heavy rain that have devastated both metropolitan Melbourne and rural communities.
Low-lying areas of Benalla on the Broken River entrance, Murchison along the Goulburn River, southwest of Shepparton, Maribyrnong near Melbourne, and the town of Charlton at the foot of the Great Dividing Range all have evacuation orders in effect.
A 64-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman had to be winched by a police helicopter from the top of their vehicle in the tiny town of Maude, west of Melbourne, after being trapped in floods while trying to cross the Moorabool River on Friday at around 12.40 p.m.
On Friday night, a watch and act order was issued for the north of Shepparton because flooding was anticipated to affect several houses by 11am.
In the Goulburn Valley and neighboring districts of Shepparton, up to 4,000 houses might be impacted.
The SES anticipates flooding to be comparable to the incident in 2010, when 40 houses were impacted, with the Avoca River in Charlton expected to reach its height on Saturday afternoon.
Authorities there have issued a warning that the floods there might linger for up to five days and put 70% of the town under water.
On Friday, flood levels in neighboring Seymour soared above the records set in 1974.
Residents of Skinners Flat near Wedderburn are now permitted to return on Friday night since the flood danger has been decreased.
Following morning floods, a new evacuation order was issued for Maribyrnong in Melbourne, telling around 70 households to flee.
The Campaspe River is projected to flood or isolate nearly 1000 houses in Rochester, prompting an emergency notice ordering inhabitants to leave immediately.
Many people in Rochester sandblasted their homes and fled, but others remained to safeguard their businesses, said to hotel owner Meagan Keating on Friday.
As quickly as the water is flowing, she said, “it is a gradual process, watching it arrive, so the anxiety is enormous.”
In Victoria, 500 houses have been proven to have flooded, and another 500 homes are isolated, according to Premier Daniel Andrews on Friday.
That number will undoubtedly increase, according to Mr. Andrews.
A week after it was formally shut down, the federal and state administrations decided on Friday to repurpose the $580 million Mickleham quarantine facility as emergency housing.
The facility will reopen early the next week and provide crisis housing for six to eight weeks, but the Victorian government stated its actual usage would depend on demand. The facility can accommodate 250 people.
On Friday, Mr. Andrews paid a visit to the incident command center in Shepparton.
The Goulburn River has a serious flood warning in effect, and the town has been warned that the next days will be “difficult.”
After the river rises on Tuesday, authorities anticipate the town of 80,000 seeing its worst flood in decades.
Shepparton, Murchison, and Mooroopna are expected to get a significant amount of water, according to Mr. Andrews.
“I believed it was crucial to be present today and just ask folks, “Have you got everything you need?” The good news is that the answer is indeed “yes.”
The next two, three, or four days are going to be a very, very difficult period, but if that changes, we’re here for the people of Shepp and the Goulburn Valley, and I’m very confident we’ll be back.
In the 48 hours leading up to Friday at 6 p.m., the SES responded to approximately 3600 pleas for assistance and saved more than 230 lives throughout the state in only two days.
On Friday, one person was reported missing in central Victoria, but police subsequently said a man had been rescued after he disregarded a barricade and plunged his car into floods near Newbridge.
According to authorities, he was able to climb onto a tree branch after his car was carried away by a river.
On Friday, the town of Mangalore and the surrounding area were overwhelmed by floods, forcing local horse breeder Yulong Stud to rescue animals from the surging waves.
Officers also helped a man and a woman in a truck who became stuck attempting to cross the Moorabool River at Maude, as well as another lady in her 70s who was caught in floods near Newstead along the Loddon River.
Complacency has been cited as the cause of the rise in rescues.
Premier Andrews offered one-time reimbursements for flood victims in the amount of $560 for adults and $280 for children.
By Friday afternoon, around 1500 applications had been submitted.
There are now emergency aid facilities close to flood-affected regions.
The Victorian Farmers Federation said that the state government should collaborate with its federal counterparts and proclaim a natural catastrophe in flood-affected regions, while opposition leader Matthew Guy urged the government to issue a state of emergency.
Bill Shorten, the federal representative for Maribyrnong, described the situation as sad in the community he had lived in for 30 years.
According to Mr. Shorten, the last significant floods were in 1974, therefore this would be a novel and disastrous event for many individuals.