Residents on the ‘wrong side’ of Echuca flood levee consider legal action
Echuca residents on the “wrong side” of the town’s levee are threatening to take legal action after their homes were inundated by floods.
A three-kilometre makeshift levee was built last week and stretches through the entire Victorian town.
It was designed to protect thousands of homes from flooding when the Murray River peaks.
However, as a result, many houses on the other side have been damaged, including Erin McCann’s.
She said has been left feeling “exhausted” and “defeated”.
“This whole wrong side of the levee is gonna get together. We are going to have a meeting and we are going to talk about class action,” McCann told 9News.
The flooding situation in Echuca is also being made worse as stormwater is pumped out of the levee and into areas where homes are already flooded.
McCann said she has chosen to stay and attempt to save her property.
“Where do we go when we’re trying to keep the water out? Who is going to map the pumps if we leave?” she said.
“I have had to send my kids up to their dad because I have to have somewhere for them to come home to.”
Major flooding continues across Victoria
Authorities believe the Murray River, which is threatening Echuca, is near its peak and was this afternoon sitting at 94.9 metres above sea level.
That level is above the 1993 flood of 94.77m.
It’s hoped the mammoth effort to protect the town will be enough to hold up against the rising floodwaters, with more than a quarter of a million sandbags used as a defence.
About 30mm of rain fell over the 24 hours to Monday afternoon in Echuca and Kerang.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Kevin Parkyn said rain and thunderstorms were forecast to hit the state today, but the severe weather warning for heavy rainfall had been lifted.
Parkyn said the rainfall in Victoria this month had created the 10th wettest October on record for the state.
He said that if the rain forecast for the coming Sunday and Monday did occur, Victoria was likely to see the wettest October ever recorded.
