Preparation was the key to last week’s floods, according to City of Greater Shepparton mayor Shane Sali.
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Speaking on Monday – two-and-a-half days after the Goulburn River peaked at 10.31m in Shepparton — Cr Sali said he was pleased with how organised everything was this time.
“Early on, we had a very nervous community — especially the ones in the low-lying areas,” Cr Sali said.
“Until the water moves through Murchison, you can’t get an accurate reading for the Shepparton gauge.”
However, he said council was much better prepared to swing into action quickly this time.
“After what we went through in 2022, from a council perspective, the ICC (Incident Control Centre) and community were better prepared this time.
“I think the way we responded in the early parts … were we’re ready to go and see what comes our way.
“Last week showed how quickly we can react. We learnt that from 2022.”
Cr Sali said sandbag points were set up quickly in Shepparton, Murchison, Bunbartha, Undera and Toolamba, but as it was already known that the risk of flooding was not going to be as high, they could set times for them to operate.
If the risk of flooding had been higher, Cr Sali said council was ready to send workers to all the sites and to have them operating around the clock.
“I think we responded and were ready to go if a high or mid 11m peak happened.”
Council had 20,000 sandbags at its disposal this time that could be filled and 320,000 cubic metres of sand was available if needed.
Thankfully, the need was different from what it was in 2022, with only low-lying properties really needing them.
Cr Sali said the filled sandbags that were not given out would go back into council stores council always has on hand now for any emergencies.
“I hope we never have to use them, but if we do they’re there and ready to go.”
Cr Sali was pleased with how prepared the council was this time and dismissed any suggestions that the council was over-prepared this time around.
“We’ve got a responsibility to be prepared,” he said.
“Our response under these circumstances was really pleasing.
“We were clearly better prepared than in 2022.
“I will accept being criticised for being over-prepared than being criticised for being under-prepared.”
Several council facilities were closed in the lead-up to the flood.
Aquamoves reopened yesterday, while council is assessing the Australian Botanic Gardens and KidsTown to see when it will be safe to reopen them.
The shared bike and walking paths between Shepparton and Mooroopna will remain closed while there is floodwater over them.
Cr Sali was also happy with the speed at which messaging got out to the community members who don’t speak English this time.
“We were able to act quickly,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that the messaging was far different this time than in the October 2022 flood.
“There is a difference (in messaging) of this is where to river is going to get to, to you have to evacuate,” Cr Sali said.
The mayor also thanked emergency services workers, as well as council workers, for their efforts in the past week or so, as well as incident controller Ray Jasper, who kept the council updated so messaging could be put out to the community.
Cr Sali paid particular tribute to the community.
“I would like to thank the community who were calm and had good awareness of the possible emergency we were facing,” he said.