Sunday, January 23, 2011

Inland Sea Closes In On Swan Hill

Emergency services say an inland sea of water is slowly making its way towards Swan Hill, in north west Victoria.

The flood waters along the Murray River are expected to reach a peak of 4.84 metres in the town later in the week.

The town's levee is expected to contain the unprecedented amounts of water.

Local authorities say the communities on the outskirts of Swan Hill such as Pental Island and Tyntynder Flats will be the hardest hit.

Keith O'Brien from the SES says a number evacuation warnings have been issued for communities in the north west.

"From Murrabit West to Benjaroop and we're also talking about the area of Benjaroop up to Fish Point and also the residents of Pental Island, which is just south of Swan Hill," he said.

"All of those have been advised that during the night or the early hours of the morning we're likely to start to see inundation."

Evacuation warnings are in place for Pental Island, just south of Swan Hill, and several other communities, including Milnes Bridge, Kerang East, Meade and Pyramid Creek.

Residents of Pental Island are being told the Little Murray River could break its banks.

Mr O'Brien says people there are being advised to leave now or face being stranded.

"We're looking at considerable periods of high water levels, best indications we have at the moment is that some locations may have water isolating them for up to 10 or 12 days," he said.

Locals have been busy sandbagging their own properties, as well as lending a hand to others.

Mavis Wardle's home could be under threat when the flood waters peak.

She says friends and neighbours have turned out to help sandbag her home.

"This has blown me away, I just cannot believe it, people are so wonderful," she said.

"And even other people that have got trouble themselves, probably got more problems than what we've got, for people to do that it's just fantastic."

Swan Hill local Brian Wood says it is stressful waiting for the waters to rise.

"There's a lot of anxiety, obviously we're in unknown territory, you're hearing the reports coming through saying how high it's going to be and you just can't imagine how high that could be," he said.
"So we're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best."

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