Following Victoria flood warning in the north-eastern parts of the state, several residents have evacuated their properties on Wednesday.
Wangaratta, along with the Ovens River, has seen worsened weather conditions on Thursday morning. The floodwaters increased in level rapidly overnight on Wednesday, and this is expected to continue until early Thursday morning. The wild weather led to submerging of the parks and evacuation of homes as asked by the State Emergency Services.
The authorities already warned the township of Bundalong situated at the edge of Lake Mulwala to be ready with measures to tackle the floodwaters that continued to flow into the Murray River. SES said that the expected rise in the level of the river water ranges from 12.7 to 12.8 meters.
SES state duty officer Andrew Murton said that at around 11pm, the level of the Ovens River reached 12.77 meters, and he said that the level is not expected to rise anymore. The officer claimed that the SES incident control center in Benella is continuously monitoring the weather change and damages.
“The levees are being inspected every two hours,” The Age quoted him as saying. “We have got no reports of flooding of houses in or around Wangaratta currently.”
To provide immediate and proper assistance to the victims of the Victoria flood, a relief center has been established at Wangaratta Performing Arts Center at Ford Street. SES data revealed that it received almost 12 calls for assistance overnight. The emergency service people said that the weather conditions seem to continue the “waiting game” for some more days with a very slow pace to return to normal.
Besides the normal life of the local people, modes of communication have also been affected due to the worsening Victoria flood conditions. Telecommunication ace Telstra has issued a notification in which it informed its users of deteriorating network in certain regions because of the continuous severe weather conditions.
Online Source: Aussie Network News.
