East on flood alert as landslide cuts off Gippsland town
Wild weather is wreaking havoc in Victoria with the state's east bracing for more heavy rain over the coming days. A landslide has cut off the coastal town of Mallacoota in the eastern Gippsland region, where some areas have seen more than 200-millimetres of rain over the past 48 hours.
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TVTranscript
00:00 I'm standing here in Newry in eastern Victoria.
00:05 Heavy rains and strong winds have been battering Gippsland for the past 24 hours.
00:10 The Bureau of Meteorology says a low pressure system currently sitting off the coast of
00:14 Mallacoota is the driving force behind these wet and wild conditions.
00:19 As it stands, there are concerns for communities upstream of Mallacoota with a major flood
00:25 warning issued for the Genoa River.
00:27 It's been a big day for residents of Mallacoota.
00:30 Their town was cut off completely from the rest of the state following a landslide earlier
00:35 this morning.
00:36 Emergency services crews say it will take hours and they will work into the night to
00:41 restore access, but for the moment there's no way in or no way out.
00:46 Also in east Gippsland, the Beam River is also at a major flood warning and a moderate
00:51 flooding may occur along the Cann River.
00:54 Further west towards Melbourne, major flooding is occurring at the Cower Weir following heavy
00:59 rainfall along the Thompson River catchment.
01:03 But at the moment the major concern is for farmers in this region.
01:06 At the end of the day, the water levels rising are mostly impacting their properties at the
01:11 moment.
01:12 I was just speaking with local dairy farmer Steve Dwyer on his property in Newry, which
01:18 backs onto the Macalester River downstream of Lake Glenmaggie.
01:24 He says it's been a very anxious 24 hours as he waits to hear from Southern Rural Water
01:29 about how much water they plan to release from the Glenmaggie Dam.
01:34 He says there needs to be greater communication between farmers and the water authority so
01:39 farmers know what to expect and know whether or not they should move their livestock.
01:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]