By GREGOR MACTAGGART, ZAC STANDISH and LIAM DURKIN
A MODERATE flood warning remains in place for Traralgon Creek tonight.
The Traralgon Creek at Traralgon peaked at 5.76 metres around 9am on Thursday (major flood level 4.80 m) and is currently at 4.70 metres and falling.
The Traralgon Creek at Traralgon is likely to fall below the moderate flood level (4.00 m) overnight Thursday into Friday.
The river level is expected to fall below the minor flood level (3.50 m) on Friday morning.
Since 9am on Wednesday, rainfall totals of up to 255mm have been recorded across the Traralgon catchment.
A moderate flood warning was issued for the Latrobe River at 9.52pm on Thursday night.
Moderate flooding is occurring in the Latrobe River at Thoms Bridge around the record level.
Minor flooding is expected to develop at Rosedale overnight Thursday.
Moderate flooding is occurring in the Tanjil River.
Since 9:00 am Wednesday rainfall totals of 30 to 270 mm have been recorded across the Latrobe River catchment.
Around 5-25 mm of rainfall is expected from late Friday and across most of Saturday.
Latrobe River upstream of Yallourn:
Minor flooding is occurring along the Latrobe River upstream of Yallourn.
The Latrobe River at Willow Grove is currently at 4.70 metres and steady, with minor flooding.
Moe River:
Minor flooding is occurring along the Moe River.
The Moe River at Darnum peaked around the minor flood level (3.50 m) at 8am Thursday. River level is now 3.08 m and falling.
Tanjil River:
Moderate flooding is occurring along the Tanjil River.
The Tanjil River at Tanjil Junction peaked at 5.72 metres around 10am on Thursday (major flood level 3.50 m) and is currently 3.39 m and falling.
The Tanjil River at Tanjil South is currently at 3.11 metres with moderate flooding and steady.
The river is expected to peak below the major flood level (3.50 m) overnight Thursday into Friday.
Morwell River:
The Morwell River at Boolarra peaked at 5.10 m around 6am Thursday and is currently around the minor flood level (3.50 m) and falling. River levels will continue to fall.
Latrobe River Yallourn to Traralgon Creek:
Moderate flooding is occurring along the Latrobe River Yallourn to Traralgon Creek.
The Latrobe River at Thoms Bridge is currently at 6.29 metres and rising.
In November 1995 the Latrobe River reached 6.31 m at Thoms Bridge.
The Latrobe River at Thoms Bridge is likely to peak near 6.40 metres around midnight Thursday into Friday.
Latrobe River downstream of Traralgon:
Minor flooding is expected along the Latrobe River downstream of Traralgon.
The Latrobe River at Rosedale (Main Stream) is currently at 3.78 metres and rising. The Latrobe River at Rosedale (Main Stream) is expected to exceed the minor flood level (4.00 m) overnight Thursday into Friday.
Latrobe City Council confirmed the emergency relief centre at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium had been closed.
According to VicRoads, a raft of road closures remain in place throughout the wider Latrobe Valley region.
The list features
Off-ramp Princes Freeway (Morwell exit to Monash Way) westbound
Yinnar-Driffield Road, Yinnar
Old Maffra Road, Tyers
Booth Court, Traralgon
Tanjil East Road, Yallourn North
Moonabeal Court, Traralgon
Tennyson Street, Traralgon
Grey Street, Traralgon
Frasers Road, Yinnar
Shakespeare Street, Traralgon
Gwalia Street, Traralgon
Peterkin Street, Traralgon
Davidson Street, Traralgon
Franklin Street, Traralgon
Whittakers Road, Traralgon
Lawless Road, Churchill
Vaggs Road, Yinnar
Yinnar Road, Yinnar
Old Melbourne Road, Maryvale
Crinigan Road, Morwell
Creamery Road, Yinnar
Sisters Road, Gormandale
Moe-Rawson Road, Moondarra
Boolarra-Mirboo North Road, Baromi
Hazelwood Estate Road, Hazelwood
Cairnbrook Road, Glengarry
Willung Road, Rosedale
Junction Road, Churchill
Whitelaws Track, Yinnar South
Brown Coalmine Road, Yallourn North
Wheelbarrow Road, Trafalgar
River Connection Road, Willow Grove
Balfours Road, Willow Grove
Wilkes Road, Willow Grove
Daveys Road, Willow Grove
Firmins Lane, Hazelwood North
Monash Way, Churchill
Tramway Road, Churchill
Sunny Creek Road, Trafalgar
Jumbuk Road, Yinnar South
Upper Middle Creek Road, Yinnar South
Walhalla Road, Erica
Northways Road in Churchill has closed lanes southbound, while traffic alerts are in place on the Princes Highway in Traralgon and on the Grand Ridge Road at Carrajung.
AFTERNOON: TWO hundred homes in Traralgon have been evacuated due to flood waters.
An evacuate now warning was issued at 10.30am this morning for people if they live, work or were visiting the Traralgon Creek area.
State emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said the events had been “a significant impact on our broader emergency services”.
“What we’ve seen is significant impact in relation to damaging winds and heavy rainfall,” he said.
“In terms of impact, we know more than 200,000 (people) in a significant part of the state that don’t have power.
“In some areas it will take a number of days (to get power). I ask you to be patient.”
A relief centre has been opened at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium on Garibaldi Street.
Mr Crisp described the lay of the land when it came to the flooding throughout Gippsland.
Crazy scenes as traffic is banked up down the Princes Highway near Traralgon Centre Plaza #gippsnews @LV_Express pic.twitter.com/XDdDhw9zK9
— Zac Standish (@StandishZac) June 10, 2021
“We are encouraging people to go to the relief centre or to friends and family,” he said.
“We have major flood warnings for the Traralgon Creek. That is having an impact in terms of moving around, particularly in the east. At the moment the Princes Highway is cut in Rosedale and similarly is in Traralgon and we expect that to be the case in Sale.”
Latrobe City Mayor Sharon Gibson had this message to those currently within the flood-affected areas.
“The hub is not a normal relief centre because we have COVID, so we cannot have people staying there like normal, if you have needs and have not got a place to go come and we will address you, but if you have a safe place to stay with family or friends we encourage you to do that,” Cr Gibson said.
“For people who are not impacted at all please stay away, this morning it was taking 20 minutes to get across Traralgon and that impacts emergency services trying to do their jobs.”
Local SES units have been sent into overdrive responding to over 350 call outs in just 12 hours.
SES Gippsland region manager Anthony McLean detailed the situation volunteers faced and the types of rescues they had to execute.
“Overnight we experienced upwards of 10 millimetres of rain per-hour with some regions having a total of over 200 millimetres, so we started to feel the impact of that early morning from around 6am onwards but it has been busy all night as well,” Mr McLean said.
“We have had to deal with a number of different things across the region, including the flooding of people’s houses but also people driving into flood water and needing assistance, trees down across roads into houses and also landslides is something that has been occurring, these are all things that are typical for this type of event and events we are ready for.”
For those in flood affected areas and in need of assistance, Mr McLean stressed the importance of being patient.
“It is a matter of getting to those priority jobs first so be patient if you have called for us, we will get to you,” he said.
“If I could also remind people to not drive through flood waters, (rescuing those people) is a major job for us that can be avoided if they just don’t drive through flood waters.”
Areas within Traralgon impacted by flooding include Traralgon Centre Plaza (formerly Stockland) carpark, Bert Thompson Reserve, Harold Preston Park and Victory Park.
Properties in George Street, Berry Street, Milton Court, Tennyson Street, Whittakers Road, Willow Court, Moonabel Court, Booth Street and Jackson Street may be impacted by flooding.
Roads impacted by flooding include the Princes Highway (Argyle Street), Franklin Street, Traralgon Creek Road, Shakespeare Street, George Street, Berry Street, Campbell Street, Gwallia Street, Davidson Street, Howitt Street, Paul Street, Peterkin Street and Campbell Street.
More than 4000 requests for assistance have been received since first thing Wednesday morning.
As the relief effort continues, the SES is asking the community to do the right thing.
“What we are asking is for people to be sensible. If you don’t need to be out and about then don’t be. Don’t drive into floodwater, don’t go into floodwater on foot,” the emergency management commissioner said.
The Traralgon Recreation Reserve is completely underwater.
The severe weather warnings which covered the Latrobe Valley and a number of other areas across Victoria, were cancelled mid-morning, as the sun peered out over Traralgon.
A number of road closures remain in place, including Monash Way between Morwell and Churchill, Firmins Lane at Hazelwood North and Tramway Road.
Latrobe City Council said it was aware of a number of roads across the region impacted by rising water levels or fallen trees which have been closed.
They are as follows:
MORNING: The Latrobe Valley was lashed by a wild storm overnight.
Local SES units attended to more than 300 call outs in the past 12 hours, with Morwell SES attending 132 of them.
More than 250 trees were reported as down across the wider Gippsland region.
In the Latrobe Valley, wind gusts of 67km/h were recorded as a number of homes lost power.
More than 1000 customers in Traralgon still remain without power, while outages were reported in other parts of the Valley.
Towns and areas around Yinnar are some of the most severely affected when it.
Close to 200 people in Boolarra have no power, while more than 600 customers are without power in Churchill.
Mirboo North (45 AusNet customers) and Yinnar (46) are also feeling the effects of the wild weather.
Rural locations such as Willow Grove (255 AusNet customers), Hill End (107) and Tanjil South (27) are down.
Moe South has 97 people affected and virtually all of Tyers is out of action with 200 AusNet customers without power.
Power is expected to be back on between 1pm and 3pm today.
There are reports of traffic chaos this morning, particularly in Traralgon, while a number of road closures are in place across the wider Latrobe Valley region.
A number of traffic lights are out on major thoroughfares in Morwell and Traralgon.
Latrobe Valley Airport recorded 55.6mm of rainfall in the 24 hours leading up to 9am this morning, but wider falls have been recorded elsewhere, particularly in the Traralgon and Churchill districts.
Flood warnings and severe weather warnings issued by the Bureau of Meteorology overnight remain in place.
A major flood warning was issued for the Traralgon Creek at 9.32am this morning.
The Traralgon Creek at Traralgon is currently at 5.76 metres and nearing a peak, with major flooding.
The Traralgon Creek at Traralgon is likely to fall below the major flood level (4.80 m) Thursday evening.
A major flood warning is in place for the Latrobe River.
Major flooding is occurring in the Tanjil River at Tanjil Junction.
Moderate flooding is occurring in the Morwell River.
Additional areas of minor to moderate flooding expected throughout the Latrobe River catchment during Thursday.
Widespread rainfall totals of 20-45 mm are forecast for Thursday. Isolated higher totals possible about the ranges.
Latrobe River upstream of Yallourn:
Minor flooding is likely to develop along the Latrobe River upstream of Yallourn during Thursday.
Moe River:
Minor flooding is likely to develop along the Moe River during Thursday morning.
Tanjil River:
Major flooding is occurring along the Tanjil River. The Tanjil River at Tanjil Junction is above the major flood level and rising. Further rises likely during Thursday.
Morwell River:
Moderate flooding is occurring along the Morwell River, River levels have now peaked at Boolarra above the moderate flood level.
Latrobe River Yallourn to Traralgon Creek:
Moderate flooding is expected along the Latrobe River Yallourn to Traralgon Creek.
The Latrobe River at Thoms Bridge is currently at 2.12 metres and rising. The Latrobe River at Thoms Bridge is expected to exceed the minor flood level (4.00 m) Thursday morning. The river level is expected to exceed the moderate flood level (5.00 m) during Thursday.
Latrobe River downstream of Traralgon:
Minor flooding is expected along the Latrobe River downstream of Traralgon.
The Latrobe River at Rosedale (Main Stream) is currently at 1.50 metres and steady. The Latrobe River at Rosedale (Main Stream) is expected to exceed the minor flood level (4.00 m) during Friday.
A severe weather warning for heavy rainfall remains in place for the parts of the Central, North Central, North East and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts including the Latrobe Valley.
Locations which may be affected include Morwell, Traralgon, Warragul, Moe and Mount Baw Baw.
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* If driving conditions are dangerous, safely pull over away from trees, drains, low-lying areas and floodwater. Avoid travel if possible.
* Stay safe by avoiding dangerous hazards, such as floodwater, mud, debris, damaged roads and fallen trees.
* Be aware – heat, fire or recent storms may make trees unstable and more likely to fall when it’s windy or wet.
* Check that loose items, such as outdoor settings, umbrellas and trampolines are safely secured. Move vehicles under cover or away from trees.
* Stay indoors and away from windows.
* If outdoors, move to a safe place indoors. Stay away from trees, drains, gutters, creeks and waterways.
* Stay away from fallen powerlines – always assume they are live.
* Be aware that in fire affected areas, rainfall run-off into waterways may contain debris such as ash, soil, trees and rocks. Heavy rainfall may also increase the potential for landslides and debris across roads.
* Stay informed: Monitor weather warnings, forecasts and river levels at the Bureau of Meteorology website, and warnings through VicEmergency website/app/hotline.
