The Rochester Flood Mitigation Group met with state political leaders to discuss flood mitigation for the town.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
Rochester residents are striving to limit the damage of future floods, taking their mitigation priorities directly to senior state opposition figures and farming leaders in a push to protect the town for good.
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Determined to ensure the devastation of the 2022 floods is never repeated, members of the Rochester Flood Mitigation Group have taken their case for stronger protections directly to senior Victorian political and agricultural leaders.
The group met with Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson, Victorian Nationals leader Danny O'Brien, Victorian Nationals Murray Plains candidate Brett Hosking and state Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell to outline a range of proposed mitigation measures for Rochester.
The group outlined a series of practical proposals its members believe could significantly reduce the impact of another major flood on Rochester.
Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson, Victorian Nationals Murray Plains candidate Brett Hosking and Victorian Nationals leader Danny O'Brien at the meeting for Rochester Flood Mitigation.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
Rochester Flood Mitigation Group member Tracie Kyne said the not-for-profit group was formed to find real, lasting solutions.
“It’s a group of passionate individuals that don’t want to brush this past flood under the carpet and say, ‘Well, it won’t happen again,” because we did that in 2011 and then 2022 hit,” she said.
Ms Kyne said one of the major options of mitigation was to increase the amount of water released from Lake Eppalock.
“We want to get the pipe unblocked to allow larger flows out of the dam. At the moment all you can release is 1500 (megalitres) a day. We need that to be around 10,000 (Ml) a day,” she said.
“Yes, that's going to cost money, but it will help protect our town.”
“If we can release water prior to a major water event, that will drop the level of the dam and allow the influx to fill it up again.
“We’re not asking them to release water if it’s sitting at 50 per cent like it is at the moment. We’re not asking them to release water if there’s a rain event coming. It’s when it’s up over 100 per cent, which it was in 2022.”
She also called for governments to continue adopting a “build back better” approach following natural disasters.
“We heard very clearly on the flood inquiry that local government wanted a policy to build back better,” she said.
“Don’t rebuild the road that’s going to flood again. Let’s build a road that’s not going to flood.”
Leigh Wilson, state Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell and Tracie Kyne at the meeting.
Photo by
Jemma Jones
Fellow group member Leigh Wilson said modelling suggested reducing storage levels before major weather events could significantly reduce downstream flood impacts.
“If they can get down to 70 per cent, we wouldn’t have had the devastation we had here,” he said.
Mr Wilson said the group also supported localised mitigation measures to improve the way floodwater moved through Rochester, while ensuring neighbouring communities were not adversely affected.
“We don’t want to flood out our neighbours to save ourselves. It’s got to come through our community,” he said.
Mr Wilson said individual property protection also needed greater government support.
“The Victorian Government does not support a policy of any individual household mitigation measures, even though that is supported in NSW and Queensland,” he said.
“If they don’t do anything, the moment we have another flood that impacts properties, people will just do whatever they can to protect their properties.”
He warned that without urgent action, the financial and human cost to the community would only keep climbing.
“It was about $300 million in reconstruction of our community between public and private,” he said.
“The Federal Government have a $200 billion mitigation program, and they spend on average between $1.2 and $1.6 billion in recovery. Just shift when the money is spent, and then we can actually start.”
