Residents of north-east of Victoria are keeping a close eye on predictions of a wet spring.
Key points:
- The Bureau of Meteorology says a wetter August to October is likely for most of the country
- A local caravan park owner says a quarter of the park was flooded on Saturday
- Residents are warned to be vigilant to any weather changes
The Bureau of Meteorology recently said a wetter August to October was likely for most of the country, including more than double the normal chance of unusually high rainfall for most areas in the eastern-two thirds of the mainland.
North-east Victoria has already recorded good rainfall, hail, as well as a number of flood alerts and minor flood events just a week into August.
Walwa Riverside Caravan Park owner and manager Heidi Conway said the Murray River had peaked about five meters at the park late on Friday and into Saturday morning.
“The Murray River broke the bank and came into our park so we’ve probably got a quarter of the park underwater at the moment,” she said.
“Our cabins are elevated up so it hasn’t affected those at all, but it looks like it’s going down now.”
‘You can’t stop nature’
Ms Conway said her business was not feeling too many impacts from the latest flooding event given it was quiet over winter.
She said Saturday’s flooding was similar to the last flooding event they saw at the park in September 2021
She said the latest event had arrived earlier than usual.
“Normally we would look at maybe flooding towards September but due to seasonal changes we’ve copped it now as well,” she said.
“We have heard that we will have a wet year so that will impact the amount of people that we have in the park.
“After COVID and everything it’s not a great thing to happen but you can’t stop nature so we just have to look to all the things that we can do to deal with that.”
Ms Conway said despite the latest weather challenges she still expected to have a busy period leading up to, and during, Christmas.
Eyes on the sky
Victoria State Emergency Service north-east duty officer Dan Walton said the heaviest of the weekend’s rain had come and gone.
He said his organization was expecting steadier conditions early next week.
But he said it was important for community members to remain vigilant to any weather changes.
“This is not going to go away.” he said.
“We’re going to have the next several months of wet, warmer than average temperatures, more than average rainfall.
“This is going to continue until probably, at least, through November.”
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