Roads were closed across Mount Alexander and Macedon Ranges Shires as last Thursday’s rain event saw local creeks and rivers burst their banks and flood roads, footpaths, parks, reserves, and impact homes and businesses.
Falls of 50-94mms were recorded around Castlemaine and Kyneton and surrounds.
In scenes reminiscent of the devastating 2011 floods, Gingell and Bruce Streets in Castlemaine were once again flooded and Camp Reserve and the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens were inundated with a massive body of water.
All roads into the township were cut as residents at Castlemaine, Chewton, Elphinstone, Barkers Creek, Campbells Creek, Yapeen, Guildford, Newstead and Baringhup braced for flooding from the Barkers, Forest and Campbells Creeks and the Loddon River.
In the Macedon Ranges, roads were closed in Malmsbury, Kyneton, Woodend, Clarkefield, Romsey, Lancefield, New Gisborne, Darraweit Guim, Carlsruhe and surrounds as floodwater from Deep Creek, Jacksons Creek and the Campaspe River impacted roads and properties.
A Watch and Act alert was still in place for Deep Creek and Jacksons Creek and the Loddon River downstream from Cairn Curran on Friday morning.
On Thursday evening power was cut to 9800 homes and businesses in Castlemaine and surrounding districts when Powercor was forced to switch off the Castlemaine substation due to rising floodwaters from Campbells Creek.
Powercor teams and emergency services had been monitoring the situation for days and striving to keep the water out with sandbagging, raising equipment and using pumps. Despite these actions, rising floodwaters reached a level at the Castlemaine zone substation that made it unsafe to keep power on at the site.
“We have been unable to keep water out of our control room and as a result we have de-energised the substation,” a spokesperson said.
“We have taken this step to reduce the safety risk to emergency services and our employees and to minimise long-term damage as much as possible in the circumstances.”
By late Thursday predictions on the restoration of power blew out to 6pm Friday. However, as rain ceased and the flood level dropped around midnight power was able to be restored. But on Friday morning some outlying homes at Guildford and other areas were still without power and properties at Newstead were being powered by generators.
Homes at Woodend and Gisborne were also impacted by power outages Thursday evening, with about 98 homes at Woodend South still without power on Friday morning and Powercor looking to bring in a generator to power the properties as reconnection efforts continued.
Powercor reported the outages were a result of fallen trees and could take a couple of days to rectify.
Castlemaine SES member Bob Pratt told the Express on Friday it had been a busy 24 hours for the unit.
“Things have quieted down and river levels are beginning to drop, however, we are expecting more water to come late today as it makes its way from the Great Divide, which can take around a day and a half to make its way to Guildford,” he said.
“Local SES has had 80 callouts in the last 24 hours, with the swift water rescue teams being called to seven or eight rescues.
“There have been about eight or nine houses with above-floor flooding in Campbells Creek, Taradale, and Baringhup.
Newstead has fared quite well, particularly with the work we did last Wednesday. The townspeople (in Newstead) did a great job coming together and sandbagging.
“The high point of these events is the community resilience we’ve seen. People have accessed 4500 sandbags and have worked hard to protect their properties.
“Local CFA around the region have been assisting with Rapid Impact Assessments, allowing us to prioritise jobs.
“We’ve also had excellent support from the council.”
Castlemaine SES has received recognition for doing an exceptional job without support from other units. With only 12-15 volunteers on the ground at any time, they did an incredible job supporting residents across the region.
DARRAWEIT HIT HARD
Darraweit Guim, a hamlet in the far eastern part of Macedon Ranges Shire, sustained severe damage in the torrential floodwaters late last week.
Some residents were forced to self-evacuate as Deep Creek rose rapidly and spilled over a wide flood plain area.
A massive clean-up of debris on some properties is needed; some are relatively large sized blocks in the valley.
Darraweit Guim Primary School has suffered from inundation on previous occasions, and this time floodwaters caused considerable damage rising to almost halfway up the rooms.
The recreational area in the centre of the town also suffered.
Macedon Ranges Shire personnel and others in attendance heard first-hand details at an hour-long community meeting in Romsey on Saturday morning.
Government representatives who arrived from the flood emergency at Rochester provided information on how Darraweit Guim home owners who were forced to find emergency accommodation could obtain the special relief grants.
It appears Darraweit Guim may have been hit harder than elsewhere in the Macedon Ranges, though stories of near disasters are still flooding in.
A small number of homes were flooded in parts of Lancefield when water surged down from the Lancefield Park area and ended up in Chauncey Street.
“Do not drive through floodwaters,” was the plea from a Victoria Police officer at the meeting.
Stories abound about district residents unable to reach their homes when Musteys Bridge and Doggetts Bridge on the Deep Creek had to be closed on Thursday.
Emergency services were stretched, and at one stage more than 40 shire-controlled roads had to be shut in Macedon Ranges.
It may take a considerable time before the complete extent of damage to infrastructure, including roads, is evaluated.
