Flood-strained banks reach breaking point
Rising water could threaten hundreds of properties in Victoria’s north as flooding in the state worsens.
Almost the entire state has been affected, from east to west, forcing more than 300 people to leave their homes since Saturday, closing dozens of roads and leaving about 6,000 homes without power.
Dozens of residents of Wangaratta, including Linda McConnell and her family, have been told to evacuate due to a second weak point in the levee bank along the King River.
“We were evacuated last night. The creek’s right in front of our house. The police came at two o’clock this morning and evacuated us,” she said.
“They reckon it’s going to rise five metres, they told me last night, which will bring it right up to my front door.
“We just took the cat and valuable stuff and put everything up as high as we could. Pretty amazing to think that it would come that far, but that’s really scary because if it does come up, we can’t go home.”
In Apex Park in central Wangaratta, the Ovens River has crept across hundreds of metres of grassland and walking paths. The children’s playground, which is usually uphill from the river, is now in it.