Echuca – Murray update, 1300 25 October 2022
The Murray River is up slightly from 24 October. Those that can enjoyed some sun at the coffee shops and restaurants that are opening in the town.
Echuca – Murray update, 1100 23 October 2022
The report from Echuca this morning is that the Murray River has risen only slightly since last night.
The Aquatic reserve in the town is now full and level with the Murray.
From top left: the bench at the Port of Echuca at 1430 22 October 2022; the same bench with the Murray slightly up late morning 23 October 2022; people and emergency services personnel watch and wait at the Port on 22 October 2022. The bench pictured is out of sight below the viewing area to the left.
Photos: Australian Rural & Regional News
Echuca – Murray and Campaspe update, pm 21 October 2022
This afternoon, as raindrops from surrounding thunderstorms fell, our ARR.News reporter visited once again the Campaspe River at the end of Anstruther Street, Echuca. The level and the speed of the river were much the same as in the morning and yesterday.
Our reporter visited also Rochester, on the Campsape River, upstream from Echuca, and the scene of devastation over the last week as the waters of the Campaspe breached its banks and spread into the town. The town is already beginning to recover, the resilience and optimism of its residents obvious from the cleaning-up work begun already. Unfortunately, Major’s IGA, the town’s only supermarket, suffered badly and is closed until further notice. So anyone needing a supermarket will need to go elsewhere for the moment. We wish Brad and his crew at Major’s IGA all the best for a speedy recovery.
It was pleasing to see that the level of the Campaspe at Rochester was lower than at Echuca, indicating that the water level in the river is indeed dropping – for now.
Earlier in the afternoon, ARR.News checked the level at the benchmark bench at the port that has become a handy gauge of the rise of the Murray. The level at 3pm showed that the Murray has continued to rise steadily, though it is some way from breaching the levees constructed at that section of the port.
Echuca – Murray and Campaspe update, 1900 20 October 2022
This evening the contrast between the Campaspe and the Murray Rivers is noticeable – while the Campaspe level is down further from the previous high last Sunday, and the water speed is slow to moderate, the mighty Murray is steadily rising and the water is moving along at speed closer to the centre of the river.
Word from Barmah town earlier in the day that the Murray had not yet peaked there and that is 24 hours away as the river flows.
Echuca waits.
Echuca – Murray update, 1700 19 October 2022
This afternoon our ARR.News reporter visited the Murray River side of Echuca to see the extensive preparations underway in anticipation of the arrival of significant water from upstream anytime over the coming days. Certainly the water had risen from where it was yesterday, but the fear is that it will rise a lot further. Hence, the laying of sandbags and the building of levees. Ironically, on the Campaspe River side, the water level continues to drop. However, this might prove to be a temporary respite only as there is the horrid possibility that when the big water from the Murray meets the water still running downstream in quantity from the Campaspe, the waters of the Campaspe will be forced some way back upstream and further out into the surrounding countryside. Here are some pictures taken this afternoon by our reporter :
The Murray River in flood at the Port of Echuca, 19 October 2022
Photo: Australian Rural & Regional News
Echuca – Campaspe update, 0800 19 October 2022
This morning our ARR.News reporter visited the Campaspe River at the end of Anstruther Street, Echuca. The water was continuing to retreat down the path from its the high on Sunday – although only slowly. Further out, the flow was slowing from the previous highs, but the water was still moving quickly.
Discussions with a Fire & Rescue Victoria officer confirmed earlier concerns of the possibility of the Campaspe water being ‘pushed back’ by the arrival of the flow from the combination of the Murray and Goulburn rivers. The exact arrival time of this far larger amount of water being hard to gauge given that it is the largest flow ever recorded. Estimates now range from Thursday through to Sunday for the Murray to peak here at the Port of Echuca.
A report on the status of the Murray at Echuca will be provided later today.
Afternoon, 18 October 2022
Australian Rural & Regional News is reporting today from the Port of Echuca, which looks like living up in full to its designation as a ‘port’. For today, tonight really, Echuca expects to be confronting the waters of three swollen rivers and their associated tributaries – the Campaspe, the Goulburn, and the mighty Murray.
Three days ago, the Campaspe River arrived in full flood having devastated large areas between Bendigo and Echuca, including the small town of Rochester. Tonight, the flooding Murray River, supplemented with water from the flooding Goulburn River, is expected to peak at Echuca.
The concern is that when the additional waters from the Murray and Goulburn rivers meet the water flowing into the Murray from the Campaspe, at their junction at the northern tip of Echuca, the Campaspe water will have nowhere to go and will ‘blow back’ onto Echuca and surrounding districts.
This afternoon, whilst helicopters buzzed overhead, ARR.News reporters walked the streets of Echuca chatting to locals – who appear resilient but who know also that anything is possible with a flood – and witnessing the significant preparations being made for what for some days has been described as likely to be Echuca’s biggest ever flood.
Echuca town prepares for flood, 18 October 2022.
Photo: Australian Rural & Regional News
It is clear that whilst many people have left town, and most businesses have shut for the duration of the crisis, many people remain – sturdily carrying on – preparing – and waiting.
Perhaps, by tomorrow morning, the crisis will have passed its zenith. Right now, it is impossible to tell. There is one certainty only – the water is coming.
