As it happened: Benalla receives significant flooding, and it might not be over yet

By Simon Ruppert

Oct 14, 2022

At 3.45am on Friday, October 14 residents of Benalla received a text message. It read ‘evacuate now’.

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This flood was expected. The Victorian State Emergency Service had been preparing for weeks.

It issued flood advice, explained where to find local flood guides and asked communities across Victoria to prepare for the worst.

Benalla, like many other parts of Victoria, held a flood preparedness meeting.

When it hit on Thursday evening, it happened quicker than many expected. However water had been rising slowly since Wednesday, October 12.

At 5.15pm on Wednesday, the water was still a couple of metres under the bridge on Ackerly Ave, Benalla, known locally as the ‘Stocky’.

By 8.15am the next morning it was less than a metre below.

At midday, on Thursday, October 13, sand was made available for filling sandbags at several areas across Benalla.

Just before 1pm a Flash Flood Watch and Act warning for Warrenbayne, Baddaginnie, Swanpool and Lima was issued.

While Lake Benalla had started to break its banks, the town was mainly above water.

At about 2.30pm, news arrived that the Hume Fwy southbound had been closed between Avenel and Benalla.

By 4.11pm the ‘Stocky’, the gauge many in town use to signify a flooding event, was under water.

The lakeside walking track had been closed and those in low-lying areas were sandbagging their properties.

By 6pm a moderate flood warning was in place for Benalla.

Over the next nine to 10 hours things would get much worse.

At about 8.45pm the flood warning was elevated to a ‘Watch and Act — Move to higher ground’, for most of the rural city.

Warning: A ‘Watch and Act — Move to higher ground’ warning was issued at about 8.45pm on October 13. Photo by Contributed

With heavy rain forecast in Benalla, and upstream, what happened next was inevitable.

Every lake, dam, river, creek and stream in Victoria’s north-east was full. The ground was soaked.

There was nowhere for the water to go.

The next few hours saw the town cut in half by rising waters.

Then, at 3.45am Friday morning, the text arrived.

It read, “Emergency. Emergency. EVACUATE NOW for FLOODING at Benalla...”

“If you are located in the surroundings of Lake Benalla it is recommended you evacuate immediately.”

Evacuation centres were set up at BPACC and Benalla P-12 College’s Faithful St campus.

By 5am in the morning, water had covered the showgrounds and gardens, submerged low-lying streets and was lapping at the back of businesses on Bridge St.

Flooded: Bridge St, Benalla, looking towards the Benalla-Monash Bridge from the west. Photo by Simon Ruppert

Overnight warnings were that river levels would reach 3.7m.

By 10.30am on Friday, October 14 that forecast had risen to 4.5m.

Floating: By mid-morning on Thursday, October 14 parts of Benalla were only accessible by boat with both bridges in town closed. You could travel from west to east on the Hume Hwy, but the southbound lanes were closed and if you did that, you could not return. The Hume has since reopened in both directions. Photo by Simon Ruppert

At the time of writing, it had not yet reached that level and the Ensign was awaiting confirmation on when waters would peak.

More evacuation warnings have been issued for the Benalla CBD and an emergency ‘Too late to leave’ warning was issued for Baddaginnie and surrounding areas.

By 11am, looking down on the flooding from the railway overpass you could no longer even tell where the ‘Stocky’ was.