Huge rainfall and moderate flooding, but shire escapes significant damage

MASSIVE rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday last week led to flooding of flood–prone locations throughout the Strathbogie Shire on Thursday and Friday. Castle Creek (Euroa) recorded 79.8mm on Wednesday, while Bureau of Meterology meteorologist Alex Melitsis said there had been record rainfall on Wednesday in Strathbogie, with a farmer measuring 92.8mm, the highest rainfall recorded at that site in 122 years. The immense downpours saw water level at Sevens Creek in Euroa rise throughout Thursday and peak at 4.3 metres on Thursday evening. The "moderate flooding" level was 0.3 metres under the "major flooding" level, before it began to subside over the following hours. Emergency and government services worked together to prepare for and respond to the flooding across the shire, with Euroa SES, Euroa CFA, Euroa police, Shepparton Search and Rescue, Strathbogie Shire Council and VicRoads taking actions to minimise flood damage, dangers and adverse incidents. Euroa SES unit commander Georgie Broussard said SES worked with CFA to assist residents in sandbagging their properties in case of major flooding, worked with Strathbogie Shire Council and VicRoads to close flooded roads, and also attended to leaking roofs and fallen trees. The emergency and government services, as well as local residents, were well–prepared given their experience of the October 2022 flood event and other flood events in the region over the years. "We weren't as busy, obviously, as the October floods, because the October floods were very significant and much higher," Ms Broussard said. "But the benefit is that we gained a lot of new members from the October floods, so we had a lot more members to help during this event. "So, we didn't feel as busy because we had more people to do more stuff." Euroa Caravan Park owner Kristy Hourigan said having had the caravan park for over six years, she is now "pretty experienced" with floods, and the advanced warnings regarding flood levels helped her team respond to the flooding effectively. On Thursday, Ms Hourigan and her team evacuated all their guests to an area of higher ground within the caravan park. "They were all happy with that actually – they were really good," she said. Ms Hourigan said that while "the whole caravan park went underwater", it had escaped damage from the flooding. Euroa Memorial Oval committee member Scott Embling confirmed the memorial oval had been flooded and covered with water, but it did not appear any damage was sustained. Strathbogie Shire Council Mayor Laura Binks said the shire was lucky to have avoided any significant damage to buildings during the recent rains and flooding. Community members have raised concerns the Seven Creeks footbridge between the memorial oval and the tennis club in Euroa may have been damaged again, after only recently being repaired from the October 2022 floods. But Cr Binks said council has not received any reports of damage to the bridge, although council is continuing to work through the impacts of last week's flooding and severe weather. She also said the ARTBOX (mobile art exhibition container) placed in Seven Creeks Park shortly before the flooding has not been damaged. "We are happy to confirm ARTBOX was not damaged and we are on track for our official opening on Friday, June 23 at 11am," Cr Binks said.