A major flood warning is current for the Ovens River at Wangaratta in Victoria's north east, where the river has been sitting at or just under its 12.7 metre major flood level since the middle of Tuesday afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology has the Ovens at major and the King River at moderate under a single warning, which was still running on its national warnings summary issued at 5.37am Wednesday. Ten other Victorian catchments carry warnings of their own.
The Ovens at Wangaratta read 12.63 metres at 1pm Tuesday. Downstream at Rocky Point it had already turned, touching 4.06 metres around 1am and easing to 3.82 metres by midday. The King at Cheshunt topped out at 2.44 metres on Monday morning and was back to 2.25 metres by mid afternoon.
The water came out of the ranges on Sunday. Mount Buffalo recorded 165.6mm, the heaviest fall in the region, with 115mm at Cheshunt and 103.2mm in the King Valley. Wangaratta itself took 67.2mm in the day, more than the town's average for the whole of August. Milawa recorded 51mm, Everton Upper 48.8mm and Whorouly 39.2mm.
Wangaratta SES crews ran two rescues early on Monday. One was a person and a dog at a campsite at Markwood. The other was two people in a car in floodwater at Edi. Nobody was hurt.
“Our unit has been quite busy, volunteers have been out all night, morning and all Sunday," Wangaratta SES unit controller Jess Zuber said.”
This is the second time in two months the Ovens has run up at Wangaratta. The July peak of 12.58 metres sat inside the moderate band. Tuesday's reading went past it, on a catchment that had not fully dried out from the first event.
Elsewhere in the state the peak has moved through. The Loddon, at major on Monday night, is back to moderate. Moderate warnings also cover the Kiewa, the Broken and Seven Creeks. Minor warnings are current for the Goulburn and Yea, the Avoca, and, as initial warnings, the Latrobe and the Wimmera. Final warnings on the Bunyip and the Werribee mean those two are falling.
The Bureau has issued its final flood watch for the event across parts of the north east and central Victoria, so no further watches will follow. From here the warnings update off the gauge network as the catchments drain.
The contrast across the country is sharp. In Western Australia the Bureau has a fire weather warning current for the Hedland and Burrup districts. In New South Wales the sheep graziers warning for the Snowy Mountains has been cancelled, and an initial minor flood warning is running on the Belubula River.
Wangaratta SES has asked residents to keep clear of the water. "Take appropriate precautions around floodwater and avoid it if possible," the unit said. Emergency assistance is on 132 500, and current Victorian warnings are listed on the VicEmergency site.
