Emergency warning issued for Port of Sale in state’s east

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Rain has eased in Victoria’s east, but authorities are warning that floodwaters near the Gippsland town of sale could still isolate some homes. A number of moderate flood warnings and one major flood warning remain in place as emergency services turn their focus to recovery.

Transcript

00:00 Well, it's been a dramatic week for people here in Gippsland just over the weekend.

00:06 Bushfires burnt through thousands of hectares of land, then heavy rainfall and now flooding.

00:11 I'm standing at the Port of Sale as you can see behind me.

00:15 The road has completely been inundated.

00:17 This is the road that separates the town's library with the port and it's currently at

00:22 a moderate flood level.

00:23 People are being urged to evacuate and to seek higher ground and those who have already

00:28 evacuated are being told not to return home just yet.

00:32 We did speak to the SES earlier and here's what they had to say.

00:35 We're saying to members of the community out there, wait until it's safe to return and

00:40 we'll advise you of that.

00:41 We're doing some initial assessments of damages out there.

00:44 We know three homes have been inundated.

00:48 The next area of watch for us is at Port of Sale areas.

00:51 The Thompson River flows through there and we've advised residents in those low-lying

00:56 areas to relocate early yesterday in readiness for those waters to go through.

01:03 So we're monitoring that now and asking those residents to stay away until the floodwaters

01:07 have passed through.

01:08 So those who are evacuating are being urged to register at the relief centre which is

01:13 located in Sales, Gippsland Regional Sporting Complex.

01:17 Already last night there was one person that stayed there overnight evacuating from Sale

01:22 and we were told that five other people registered there yesterday.

01:26 There are other moderate flood warnings that are a concern at the moment as well.

01:30 Those are in Wangaratta, Shepparton, Teralgan and Bairnsdale.

01:34 Authorities are urging people to check the Vic Emergency app to keep up to date with

01:38 the advice.

01:39 Already this morning at about 6.30am two males had to be rescued from the roof of their car

01:45 after driving into floodwaters.

01:47 So just another reminder for people to stay away and to check the Vic Traffic app for

01:52 any road closures.

01:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended