Towns evacuated after wild storms: [2 All-round First Edition]
Richard Kerbaj, John Stapleton. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 Nov 2007: 10.
Show highlighting
Abstract
“We’ve had over 100mm of rain up in the ranges north of the catchments in Gippsland and currently Southern Rural Water are releasing water from Glenmaggie Weir, which is going to put pressure on the river downstream and impact potentially on thetownships,” SES operations director Trevor White said. Residents in these and nearby towns such as Bairnsdale spent much of the day sandbagging the river banks to secure against flash flooding.
The rains will boost dam levels in regional areas and help Melbourne’s water shortages, the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior forecaster Scott Williams said, with runoff into the Thompson reservoir expected to increase in the coming days. Melbourne’s dams are at 39.9 per cent ofcapacity.
Sydney’s water stores should also rise after the weekend’s rain, with NSW Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Neale Fraser noting the catchment had received “very useful” falls.
Full Text
WILD storms lashed much of Victoria yesterday, leaving one man dead and forcing hundreds of people in the state’s southeast to evacuate their homes.
State Emergency Services urged residents of Tinamba and Newry, small towns in Gippsland, to leave the area while they could as floodwaters continued to rise following nearly 24 hours of heavy rains.
The towns were only just returning to normal after bearing the brunt of crippling floods that hit the Gippsland region four months ago.
“We’ve had over 100mm of rain up in the ranges north of the catchments in Gippsland and currently Southern Rural Water are releasing water from Glenmaggie Weir, which is going to put pressure on the river downstream and impact potentially on thetownships,” SES operations director Trevor White said. Residents in these and nearby towns such as Bairnsdale spent much of the day sandbagging the river banks to secure against flash flooding.
Yesterday’s storms, which swept across Victoria’s south carried by strong winds, were just as devastating to the west of Melbourne, leaving a 19-year-old camper dead after a tree branch fell and crushed his tent in Lorne, on the Great Ocean Road. Emergency workers and a doctor camping at the Sheoak campground battled to save the teenager.
Three friends who were also in the tent escaped injury.
The rain, the most in a 24-hour period in the region in a century, forced the evacuation of many visitors from Cumberland River Holiday Park, west of Lorne.
While the Bureau of Meteorology said as much as 150mm fell overnight in Gippsland, Mr White said he believed the flooding would be less severe than in June and July, when much of the area was inundated.
While the Otways and Gippsland recorded heavy falls, the nation’s food belt, the Murray-Darling Basin, missed the big falls, receiving about 80mm.
The timing of the rains could not have been more heartbreaking for farmers.
If they had come four weeks ago, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wheat crops would not have been ploughed back into theground or turned into hay.
Don White, of the consultancy firm Weatherwatch, said the widespread rain, which also fell across much of NSW, could have been worth hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars but it “just came too late”.
The rains will boost dam levels in regional areas and help Melbourne’s water shortages, the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior forecaster Scott Williams said, with runoff into the Thompson reservoir expected to increase in the coming days. Melbourne’s dams are at 39.9 per cent ofcapacity.
“It’s not all bad news in that we’ll get very good rainfall into our storages out of this,” Mr Williams said.
“Overall it’s been a pretty good event in the state.”
Mr Williams said weather conditions were likely to ease overnight and settle by Melbourne Cup day tomorrow.
“It should improve quickly enough for the Melbourne Cup to be run in fine conditions, with sunny periods and 20 (degrees),” he said.
Sydney’s water stores should also rise after the weekend’s rain, with NSW Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Neale Fraser noting the catchment had received “very useful” falls.
Mr Fraser said other parts of the state had seen widespread and welcome rains, with isolated areas receiving more than their average November monthly falls.