Sandbags stem Horsham flood crisis

The labours of Horsham residents in stacking 40,000 sandbags in front of properties
this week may have helped avoid a crisis from what was the worst flood in living
memory.
While at least 600 houses in Horsham are believed to have been flooded in their
front and back yards, only 10 homes were inundated over the floor, though that
figure is expected to rise.
Power was shut down for fewer properties than expected, although much of the CBD was
shut down on Tuesday.
As the waters recede through drains to the currently massive, fast-flowing Wimmera
River, the extent of the damage will be revealed and the clean-up will begin.
State Emergency Service incident controller Stephen Warren said the flood was a
"one-in-200-year flood" and predicted 111 houses would be flooded inside and above
the floorboards.
Other towns in the northwest Victorian region will face flooding on Wednesday and
beyond, including the small wheat-belt town of Warracknabeal, where more than 140
homes are expected to be flooded overnight.
"All the water, particularly to the east of Horsham, is starting to go back into the
river system, which means the water is receding and that will mean the peak will
stay fairly high here," Mr Warren told reporters.
"In the next day we should see some significant drops in the water levels.
"Doing some really good sandbagging has saved a lot of homes in this area, we hope
that continues over the next day or so ... that we continue to find that homes have
been protected really well."
The SES was out in the streets in the early hours of Tuesday using megaphones to
advise residents to evacuate.
Problems lie ahead in the clean-up. Adults and children have been seen walking and
playing in waist-high water considered dangerously dirty, while some residents have
angrily told motorists not to drive in their flooded streets whipping up waves that
can flood properties.
"It is important to remind people that there is sewage in this water. It is not
pretty water, it is really dirty, getting into areas," Mr Warren said.
He says Horsham's flat topography and flood activity in the Grampians had given
emergency services plenty of lead time to warn people, while extensive studies of
flood scenarios had been completed for Horsham.
Warracknabeal's flood overnight would be more difficult to predict, he said.
"It's just a waiting game as to how well they've been prepared and where that water
will go. There's an unknown factor in the next few days, we could end up with a lot
more damage in Warracknabeal," Mr Warren said.
Deputy premier Peter Ryan said in Horsham on Tuesday there had been hundreds of
millions of dollars of agricultural damage around Victoria, but he said the
government would stand by all of the 51 towns affected, and emergency funding grants
would be available.



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