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www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
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FRIDAY, October 6, 2023
Weekend Edition $1.80 INC. GST
GREG AND BIG BOY TALK TURKEY AHEAD OF NEXT WEEK’S SHOW LOCAL poultry breeder Greg Vonarx and his gobbler turkey Big Boy have every reason to talk up a big game. The champion duo have claimed top honours at both the Melbourne and Sydney shows and are looking forward to competing at next week’s Wangaratta Show. ■ Story page 4 PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
7-ELEVEN 2.0 BID FOR CITY
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DRIVER BLEW .201 DURING WEEKEND OPERATION Page 3
NEW LEADERS AT ROVERS
FLOOD WATCH Sport
Ovens River expected p to reach jjust shyy of the major j flood level at Wangaratta g overnight g
NEAR-record breaking rainfall through the state’s Alpine Shire earlier this week was expected to result in floodwaters just shy of the major level overnight in Wangaratta. Some 30 years after Wangaratta’s 1993 one-in-100-year October floods, the rural city yesterday braced for nearmajor floods for the second time in as many years, following torrential falls in the
BY RYAN MALCOLM rmalcolm@ nemedia.com.au
Ovens River catchment on Tuesday night. In the seven days leading up to serious flooding through Whorouly and into the outskirts of Wangaratta yesterday afternoon, Mount Hotham’s automatic weath-
er station had recorded some 249mm of rain, while Upper Buckland (198mm) and Mount Buffalo (164mm) had also been pummelled by consistent downpours. Similar falls were experienced in the King River catchment on Tuesday, with moderate flooding prevailing on Wednesday and throughout yesterday before the river converged with the Ovens at Wangaratta.
At a community meeting broadcast online by the Rural City of Wangaratta yesterday afternoon, CFA incident controller Lachie Gales said local emergency crews were not expecting weather events to further increase the risk in the coming days, with water likely to begin subsiding by Sunday. “Currently the river level at Wangaratta is around 12.4m – we’re at this point expecting
it tto reach h a level l l below b l the th major flood level (12.7m), but very close to it,” he said. The Ovens River at Wangaratta peaked at 12.78m last October, the rural city’s third-highest level officially recorded. Much of last year’s flood activity was driven by heavy falls in the King River catchment. Sandbags were made available at Wangaratta SES’s
Handley Streett b base yesterH dl St t day afternoon for community members concerned about their flood risk. However, Rural City of Wangaratta director community and infrastructure Marcus Goonan said he expected the city’s levee banks at Wilson Road and Parfitt Road to be able to confidently manage the forecast flooding. ■ Continued page 2
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