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FRIDAY, October 21, 2022
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PUMP UP THE JAZZ & BLUES MARG Brickhill is among the army of volunteers who will help the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues return to a live event next week, for the first time since 2018. Marg will volunteer at one of the festival’s venues, Holy Trinity Cathedral, and the call is out for others to help fill spots on the volunteering roster across the weekend, for tasks such as ushering at performances, and artist transport. An information session for volunteers will be held next week. See page 3 for more details. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
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Storm clouds ahead RIVERINE flooding could well make way for flash flooding at the weekend, with stormy conditions expected to hit the region in the coming days. After both the Ovens and King rivers reached the major flood level late last week, local emergency service crews were back on the front foot on Wednesday, handing out sandbags to local community members as the region braced for potentially severe thunderstorms.
Threatening Th i gh heavy, y, p possible ibl targeted g d rainfall i f ll and d flash h flooding di g BY RYAN MALCOLM rmalcolm@ nemedia.com.au
Between 33 and 55mm of rain is forecast through to Sunday evening, with possible storms forecast today and tomorrow, and a further 28 to 65mm expected from Monday to Wednesday. SES incident controller Ray Jasper said the region’s flooding outcome would
be heavily dictated by the intensity of the storms. “Unfortunately the North East will probably have the highest rainfall across the state moving forward,” he said. “It’s going to be very storm-driven, if you get the storms in your region then flash flooding will be a significant risk for people. “They’re thinking up to around 50mm but if we get storms we could see up to 80mm.”
SES Wangaratta unit controller Jess Zuber said the local unit had handed out well in excess of 3000 sandbags to local community members in the previous week, while also supporting nearby flood-stricken towns such as Shepparton. She said it was difficult to predict exactly where stormy conditions may hit. “These isolated storms do have the potential to bring with them some substantial
rain so obviously we have a flash flooding risk,” she said. “We are dubious as to what the rain would do to our already flooded rivers and creeks - we can’t predict where it will fall and what the outcome will be. “We know with our roads we’re going to see a lot more trees down if we get those winds and storms come through - we know there is that potential for
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flash flooding that may impact roads and we know we have a lot of potholes that are going to get worse before they can get fixed unfortunately. “We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.” After a major flooding event which saw local SES crews complete 10 water rescues in the last seven days, Ms Zuber said she hoped residents had learned the risks of driving or swimming in floodwater. ■ Continued page 2