Council contributes to 2022 flood inquiry

Council contributes to 2022 flood inquiry

Published on 05 June 2023

Repairing strategic levee banks, funding for key flood mitigation infrastructure, and updating key management strategies to recognise lessons learnt from the October-December 2022 floods are priority issues in the Gannawarra Shire Council’s submission to the Inquiry into the 2022 Flood Event.

Developed with input from residents impacted by the floods, the Gannawarra Community Recovery Committee, flood observers and Council staff, the document outlines how the municipality’s second major flood event in 11 years affected residents and suggests ways response efforts can be improved.

“The development of this submission has played an important role in the Gannawarra’s recovery process by enabling residents the opportunity to tell their story and more importantly, put forward solutions to mitigate future flood risk,” Council Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Rollinson said.

The document features 37 recommendations covering the nine inquiry terms of reference topics, including what factors caused or contributed to the flood event, the adequacy and effectiveness of early warning systems, resourcing of emergency services, government policy, flood mitigation strategies, and the Victorian planning framework’s implications for future planning decisions.

The submission also includes five priority issues for Council and the Gannawarra community:

Fund and direct appropriate authorities to repair strategic rural levee banks and clear strategic waterway blockages across Gannawarra Shire to prevent re-flooding of vast areas of productive agricultural land, private and public assets, infrastructure, and homes. Ensure that Goulburn-Murray Water’s Kow (Ghow) Swamp Operations Plan allows for the release of water over the Pyramid Creek regulator prior to a flood event to create headspace within the swamp to avoid creating significant flood impacts for downstream areas. Ensure that the North Central Regional Floodplain Management Strategy 2018-2028 reflects the 2022 flood and that the high-level work plan is updated in consultation with local government to guide future investment priorities for the remaining five-year timeframe of the current plan. Fund key flood mitigation infrastructure in the Gannawarra Shire, including a low level weir on the Loddon River to divert water around Kerang via a third bridge over the Murray Valley Highway, a low-level weir from the Lower Loddon River to create a flow path to divert water through Murrabit West and Benjeroop and back into the Murray River, and a culvert under the Murray Valley Highway at Wandella Creek to ensure connectivity is maintained during a flood event via this major north-south transport route. Ensure that the Victorian Floodplain Management Strategy addresses the removal of standing water, identification of strategic drainage outlet locations, management of hyper-saline lakes, transparency around significant cultural heritage sites, and remediation of rural levee bank breaches that have the greatest impact..

“Council anticipates that like the aftermath of the 2011 floods, all information provided during the submission process will assist the committee to develop recommendations that will ensure communities are better prepared for future events,” Mr Rollinson said.

To view Gannawarra Shire Council’s submission, please click on the Inquiry into the 2022 Flood Event heading at www.gsc.vic.gov.au/floods

Public hearings will also be held, with confirmed sessions occurring in Rochester (23 August), Echuca (24 August), Shepparton (13 September), Seymour (14 September) and Melbourne (11-12 October).

“Council has written to the committee, inviting members to the Gannawarra to hear from our residents about how the flooding of the Avoca, Loddon and Murray rivers, along with the Pyramid Creek, impacted residents,” Mr Rollinson said.

“A positive response to our request for an in-person hearing to be held in Gannawarra would be welcomed.”