00:00There are around a dozen vehicles, some on the rocks, some in the ocean, some on the beach,
00:18and we had an expert salvage team that came in and supported us in terms of extricating those
00:24via helicopter off the beach, off the coastline, so that we can relocate them to a secure storage facility.
00:32Last week the communities of Cumberland River, Lawn, Wye River and Separation Creek experienced a significant storm event
00:40that saw really significant rainfall totals of 180 millimetres plus in this part of the world,
00:47and what resulted from that was significant flash flooding affecting particularly those communities
00:53and a number of the caravan parks that reside along the riverbanks.
00:56That flash flood event resulted in a number of vehicles, caravans, personal belongings, structures
01:03being pushed into the rivers and a number of those flowed out to sea,
01:08and the objective today is really to support community in recovering those vehicles where we can.
01:15We were really conscious that we're in a really significant environmental area.
01:20Great Ocean Road is known across the world for its environmental values.
01:24We're also in an area of significant cultural heritage values for the Eastern Ma people.
01:31So we needed to work really closely with traditional owners, with land managers,
01:36around how best to respect environment and cultural heritage values, but recover those vehicles.
01:42So we looked at sea, we looked at land and we looked at air.
01:46Air was deemed the greatest option due to our ability to impact as least as possible the land and the ocean environment
01:56that exists here at Cumberland River and Wye River.
