Rochester residents avoid major flooding

Australian Defence Force personnel helped remove sandbags from in front of Rochester businesses, which had been filled just a day earlier by hard-working volunteers.

Volunteers turned out to fill hessian sacks with sand at the football oval to help protect homes and businesses from the rising Campaspe River after hearing the predictions of 114.8m to 115m AHD at a community meeting.

Residents were on high alert on Sunday, January 7, after 180mm of rain fell on the Rochester side of Lake Eppalock, and the Campaspe River began to rise.

Rochester SES member Judith Gledhill was one of those relieved residents on Tuesday when she found that the river had peaked.

“It’s a huge relief that we were able to over-predict and prepare for this flood,’’ Mrs Gledhill said.

“The SES understood that a lower level flood is easier to predict than a higher or moderate flood.’’

Initially, the SES believed 60 homes would be impacted, which was later downgraded.

“The latest update, according to the SES, is that only five homes are threatened by over-floor flooding due to the floodwater,” Mrs Gledhill said.

“Most of the floodwater for this event is limited to streets, gutters and backyards.”

Seven ADF members were in Rochester, assisting the town with recovery, including removing sandbags from businesses less than 24 hours after being placed in preparation for the rising river.

“The ADF asked what they could do to help, and they suggested that they could remove the sandbags from businesses in preparation for another day of trade,” Mrs Gledhill said.

Victoria Police Inspector Dave Bowler, who oversees the Campaspe region, assured residents that additional patrols were taking place in the flood zone.

“Victoria Police will be conducting vehicle patrols of Rochester to ensure residents know their property is being protected,” Insp Bowler said.

“We will also conduct patrols to protect homes from being looted for valuables.”

While emergency services were working to help with the recovery effort, homeowners were surveying the damage.

Lynette Brown’s property on Victoria St was surrounded by water.

“We worked yesterday afternoon to get everything off the floor,” Mrs Brown said.

Fortunately for Mrs Brown and her husband, Kevin, their rental property sits up high, out of reach of the flood.

Business owners along Mackay St were also relieved to see the subsiding water level.

Belinda Cooper of Trust Us Bookkeeping fared much better this time than the October 2022 flood.

“We took the computers home last night in case the flood was much higher,” Ms Cooper said.

“All the businesses were sandbagged Monday night (January 7), and fortunately, we were not impacted.”

Campaspe Shire Councillor Paul Jarman was in Rochester talking with relieved business owners.

“The waters haven’t reached the same level as they did in October 2022, which is good,” Cr Jarman said.

“Which means that most of Rochester hasn’t been greatly affected.

“But people are always impacted, and you must ensure everyone is cared for.”

Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell was also there, grateful that the waters were slowly beginning to recede.

“It looks like the river will peak lower than first expected. And that’s great news for the people of Rochester,” Mr Birrell said.

“The town and I hope the impact to Rochester and the surrounding region is minimal.”

Residents were out and about after the floodwaters reached their peak, checking on their town.

Among those were Brooke Sinclair and Sanjay Ranchhod who were relieved to see the waters receding.

“The main thing is that all of the businesses are safe, which is great to see,” Ms Sinclair said.

On Tuesday afternoon, Victoria SES chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch gave an update about the ongoing flood situation on Victoria.

According to officials, the Campaspe River peaked at 114.62m — which was below the forecasted 114.8m.

An emergency warning still remains in place for the town and Mr Wiebusch asked those people who were not from Rochester to remain away from the town.

Coliban Water has turned off the water supply for the town to protect infrastructure from floodwater.

It is expected that this should be restored overnight on Tuesday, into Wednesday, Mr Wiebusch said.