KOONDROOK and Barham residents were inundated with water on Sunday night and Monday morning as heavy rain caused flooding to a number of homes.
About 81mm (3.25 inches) of rain was recorded in the region on Sunday and Monday as ground already saturated from previous heavy falls was again inundated.
Fire brigades from both towns were called to pump water from streets and back yards as several homes were threatened by rising water levels.
Koondrook firefighters were called on at 11pm on Sunday to assist their Barham counterparts with street flooding but were forced to return to Koondrook soon after midnight to pump water from a number of streets. The Shire of Kerang provided sandbags for a number of residents in the town.
Forest, Station and Main streets and the Arbuthnot Sawmill were the worst hit areas in Koondrook, where pumping was required to alleviate flood problems.
Main street residents, Bill and Winnie Douthat have lived in Koondrook for 56 years and have never seen rain like it.
“I remember when you could row a boat from here to a pub when it rained in the old days but this is something else again,” Mr Douthat said.
Mrs Doris Harris and Mr Des Hammond, residents of Maunder street in Koondrook, had different reactions to the high water levels in the town.
Mrs Haris has never seen levels as high as the present since moving to the town in 1971, while Mr Hammond has seen the water encroach close to his flat about “three times before.”
Murray parade residents, Gaeme and Roslyn Woods were forced to pump water from the rear yard of their residence on two seperate occasions.
It was a simular story across the Murray River at Barham where Wakool street residents, Trevor Trewin and Charlie Humphrey had water at their doorsteps after the heavy overnight deluge.
Mr Humphrey said residents were lucky there had been a week’s break between heavy rainfalls.
“If the break had not occurred half of Barham would have been underwater,” he said.
Mr Humphrey said a larger pump than the present 10 inch pump was needed in the town to remove the street waters which nearly always accumulated after heavy rains.
Wakool Council general manager, Mr Craig Moffitt and Cr Ken Trewin toured the flooded streets early on Monday to get a first hand look at the water damage.
Rural Water Corporation area manager for the Torrumbarry region, Mr Bryan Main said the heavy rains on Sunday and Monday caused more local problems than significant rises in river levels.
He said the levels of the Murray River had remained the same at the Torrumbarry Weir for the past six days, while the Loddon River had risen two centimetres in the past two days to reach a minor flood level of 76.94 metres.
The Murray River was at 86.5 metres at the Torrumbarray Weir yesterday and 6.06 metres at Barham.
Mr Main said it was fortunate that small amounts of rainfall at Laanecoorie reservoir had meant there was no major flood peak existing there.
He said big rains at Shepparton and Echuca would cause the Murray River to rise still further, creating the potential for flooding downstream and upstream of Barham.
Swan Hill was issued with a major flood warning on the Murray yesterday morning while the river level at Benjeroop rose to 72.93 metres, up 4 cm from Sunday.
