Parts of the King Valley were on flood watch on Sunday following the weekend’s downpour, as local VICSES crews were kept busy with toppled trees on roads.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Wangaratta Airport rain gauge, the rural city saw 27.4mm fall from 9am Friday to 9am Sunday, with 21.4mm of that rain falling overnight Friday.
The downpour on Friday night and early Saturday morning also saw peak wind gusts reach 74km/h.
VICSES Wangaratta Unit controller Jess Zuber said the unit received around nine requests for assistance, predominantly early on Saturday morning, across various areas of the rural city from Killawarra, Oxley, Moyhu, Myrrhee and Tarrawingee for fallen trees on roads.
Watch and act warnings were issued across the Alpine region from Mount Bogong, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and Mount Buller on Friday night with blizzarding conditions of peak wind gusts reaching as high as 146km/h at Mount Hotham.
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Mount Buller woke up to 21cm of fresh snow on Saturday morning.
Consistent rainfall saw minor flood watch warnings issued by VICSES for parts of the King River on Sunday morning, at Lake William Hovell (Downstream) and the Docker Road bridge.
As of 10am Sunday, the Lake William Hovell river height was steady at 1.77m and expected to break minor flood level of 1.8m in the morning.
The Docker Road bridge river height was rising at 2.92m with the possibility of reaching minor flooding at 3.7m by the afternoon.
The city’s Ovens River height was rising at 9.9m but below the minor flood level of 11.9m.
The VICSES advised the community in the surrounding King River areas to stay informed and be prepared to act if the situation changed.
Ms Zuber urged the community to continue to monitor the VicEmergency app.
“There is a lot of water on roads, so driving with care is important as well as the possibility of further trees falling,” she said.
“We do need people to be aware of the flood risks but hopefully we should see a reduced risk going forward.
“This is pretty normal for Wangaratta, so most locals will be aware, but it has been a while since we have seen some decent rain.”
For the rest of the week, the Bureau has forecasted light showers in Wangaratta up until Friday when morning frosts are expected to return to the region.
Monitor weather warnings, forecasts and river levels at the Bureau of Meteorology website, and warnings through VicEmergency website/app/hotline.
You can find out more about Wangaratta’s flood guide via the link: https://www.ses.vic.gov.au/.../rural-city-of-wangaratta.
For emergency services, call the SES on 132 500.
