A massive rainfall event that triggered flash flooding along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road has swept cars and caravans away, and forced the evacuation of many campers.
The downpours around Wye River and Lorne saw floodwaters rage through a number of coastal towns.
The State Control Centre told the ABC that 10,000 people in areas along the Great Ocean Road received emergency texts alerting them to the flooding.
A spokesperson said about 200 locals and holidaymakers were displaced from low-lying areas, including caravan parks, with SES crews having to assist people stuck in caravans.
Heavy rain has caused major issues in Victoria. PIC: Arun Thomas / Pexels
The rain gauge at Mt Cowley, west of Lorne, recorded more than 180 millimetres of rain yesterday, reportedly smashing the previous daily rainfall record.
SES chief operations officer Alistair Drayton said emergency services had not seen this level of rain in the region before.
“We’ve seen significant rainfall that’s created a deluge of water coming down those estuaries and we’ve seen some pretty extreme vision of vehicles that have been washed out,” he said. “We believe there might have been a number of caravans as well … [and with] the debris that’s coming down it’s an incredibly dangerous environment.”
The SES told the ABC that Wye River’s caravan park, situated along the river and next to the ocean, had been badly inundated, with up to half a metre of mud through the park.
The nearby Wye River pub quickly became a refuge for those who evacuated from the caravan park. Patrice Capogreco was camping with her two daughters at the BIG4 Wye River Holiday Park was among the campers evacuated to the pub.
“It’s pretty full on here, people are trying to find family members, it’s really scary,” she told the Guardian newspaper. “We’ve lost everything, you can see caravans and cars floating away, it’s just heartbreaking, strangers are hugging strangers … the one good thing is sometimes the worst events bring out the best in people.”
The Lorne Foreshore Caravan Park will also be closed for several weeks as a huge clean-up operation gets underway.
Manager Harshit Sharma told the ABC that staff had been receiving warnings about storms and rain during the day, but had no idea how bad it would be.
“We were monitoring the river since the morning and it was fine, and then we got reports of flooding down at Wye River and Skenes Creek,” he said. “Then all of a sudden we saw the water rush down … people were definitely panicking but people were very cooperative.”
The same weather system that’s caused the deluge along the Great Ocean Road is apparently heading towards Gippsland, in Victoria’s east.
The SES’s Alistair Drayton urged locals and visitors to remain vigilant.
“I ask people to be mindful and, if need be, delay your travels,” he told the ABC. “But know your areas and your risks in those potential flash flood areas.”
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