Flooding at Goulburn Weir in 2022. Picture: Victorian Government
Residents of communities along the Goulburn and Broken rivers are invited to attend drop-in sessions being held by the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority to provide input into a key flood study.
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The Goulburn Broken CMA is conducting the Goulburn and Broken Rivers Flood Study to provide flood mapping for the Goulburn River from Lake Eildon to Shepparton, and the Broken River from Lake Nillahcootie to Shepparton, including for many areas which have not been flood mapped previously.
Residents including those from Thornton, Molesworth, Trawool, Seymour, Mitchelton, Nagambie, Kirwans Bridge, Murchison, Toolamba, Lima South, Swanpool, Benalla, Stewarton, Cosgrove South and surrounding areas are encouraged to attend the community drop-in sessions.
Goulburn Broken CMA’s floodplain implementation manager Joel Leister said the communities and towns along the Goulburn and Broken rivers had a long history of significant floods events, including most recently at the start of this year and in 2022.
“Detailed flood studies already exist for Shepparton, Benalla, Seymour and Murchison, so this flood study is seeking to fill the ‘gaps’ in our flooding modelling in between these towns and the areas downstream of Lake Eildon and Lake Nillahcootie,” Mr Leister said.
“Flood studies are important tools for not only understanding flood behaviour and informing flood risk, but the outputs from these studies are also used to update emergency planning documents and intelligence.
“The studies are also used to update council planning schemes and inform future development, including the setting of minimum floor levels for construction of buildings.”
Mr Leister said one of the key stages of a flood study was a process called ‘’calibration’’, where the flood models seek to replicate a historic flood event in terms of flood levels and extent.
“The Goulburn and Broken Rivers Flood Study has used the 2022 and 1993 flood events as the calibration events, representing the largest flood events in recent memory in the Goulburn River and Broken River floodplains respectively.’’
The community drop-in sessions provide the community with an opportunity to discuss the prepared draft flood mapping from the 2022 and 1993 flood events and provide input into whether the mapping reflects what was experienced during the 2022 and 1993 floods.
Flooding at Nagambie in 2022. Picture: Victorian Government
The CMA and its key partners will be available to discuss the next steps in the study, including the preparation of the one-in-100 annual exceedance probability flood extent and associated levels, the assessments of the impacts of climate change, updates to overlays within the planning scheme and updates to emergency planning documentation.
Representatives of local councils and the Victoria SES will also attend.
The community drop-in sessions will be held from 4pm to 7pm on:
Tuesday, November 19: Toolamba Community Centre (Wren St, Toolamba).
Wednesday, November 20: Benalla Visitor Information Centre (14 Mair St, Benalla).
Tuesday, November 26: Nagambie Lakes Regatta Centre (Loddings Lane, Nagambie).
Wednesday, November 27: Seymour Recovery Hub (4 Guild St, Seymour).
Thursday, November 28: Molesworth Public Hall (4355 Goulburn Valley Hwy, Molesworth).
From Monday, November 18, the draft flood mapping for the 2022 and 1993 flood events will be available at https://www.gbcma.vic.gov.au and people can also provide comments there if they are unable to attend a community drop-in session.
