Residents on the "wrong side" of a 2.5-kilometre levee in Echuca are waiting anxiously to see what impacts water rises will have on their properties and town.
Key points:
- As many as 80 homes unprotected by the town's levee are at risk
- The Murray River is expected to peak tomorrow and some residents are opting to stay rather than evacuate
- An incident controller says there is only so much the levee can do
Water has already spread across some of the streets in the area, where the Murray River is expected to peak on Friday.
Emergency services said the projected peak was 95.3 metres above sea level — higher than the 1993 flood event in the community.
Julie Golledge said residents were told the levee would be built at a community meeting on Monday.
She said she was among those on the "wrong side" of the barrier.
"We are – call it a phrase – the 'sacrificial lambs' to protect Echuca," Ms Golledge said.
"At the moment our house is dry.
"We can see the river creeping in — it is very slow.
"It's just a waiting game at this present time."
Scores of homes at risk
Ms Golledge said about 80 houses were on the wrong side of the levee.
She said she and her and her husband had chosen to stay and fight for their house.
"If it gets to the height they've projected it's about our floor level," Ms Golledge said.
"Then our houses will have water in them.
"But not all houses in this block are newer houses and are built at that height.
"Some of them are the old traditional houses of Echuca East, and they will certainly have water in them."
'They don't do it all'
The Bendigo Incident Control Centre's Mark Catel said there was a lot of pressure on all the levees in the system.
He said emergency services were adhering to original town plans with the way the Echuca levee was set up.
"The reason why they [the homes] are outside the levee is that was all part of the original planning for the town," he said.
"The levees have been there for a long time.
"At the moment the decision was made just to bolster the current levees.
"It is unfortunate there are homes outside, but it doesn’t matter where we put it — there’s still going to be homes outside
"That’s the unfortunate part of levees … [they] do a small bit of work, but they don’t do it all."
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2022-10-20 01:33:25Z
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