Flood inquiry hears of confusion in Echuca, Rochester in 2022

Public hearings for the inquiry began in Rochester on Thursday, with farmers telling politicians about the under-resourcing of emergency agencies like the SES, bureaucratic red tape holding up funding for road repairs and insufficient notice of rising floodwater.

Founder of Think Agri and agronomist Kate Burke spoke at the Echuca hearing about a lack of empathy and unclear information had ongoing mental health impacts.

"Flood affected communities were getting conflicting information right when we need consistency to make crucial decisions and properties," she said.

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Ms Burke referenced an article she wrote after the floods, saying she had more faith in hydrology models and local knowledge.

"I have less faith in the practical reality of delivering a consistent message, and that scared me, as confused messages could cost lives," she said.

"To be frank, it still scares me, and it's not just messages under pressure, it's the clear, consistent, strategic and practical leadership under pressure [that we need], and we did not see it here, or at Rochester.

"You need empathy, as well as expertise."

She said the difficulty in accessing emergency data and searching through apps to find the flood levels in small fonts was unacceptable for many people in her community.

She also cited a lack of accessibility to finding data in an emergency and having to scroll through apps to find flood levels in tiny fonts, which was unacceptable for many in her community.

"The challenge I pose to all levels of government, in this post flood, post pandemic environment is to strategically rebuild trust and credibility," she said.

Ms Burke said she also witnessed victim shaming and authorities shaming residents for not leaving their homes to motivate communities, and called for better leadership during flood disasters.

Dairy farmer Tom Acocks, from Rochester, said he had been anticipating a level of inundation compared to the 2011 floods in the region and was aware of a big event coming for his property, where he also grows grain and feeds beef stock.

However, it became increasingly difficult to predict what was coming due to a lack of official information.

"Given the communication, we felt we'd done our best efforts... we understood there'd be inundation across our property and made plans to address that [like] shifting livestock," he said.

"We relied on information from other landholders further upstream than us to prepare for what was coming at us.

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"[I will say] that there was no information from authorities as to the significance of the event."

He said farmers with new infrastructure had fared better than those with wet pastures, but other effects of the flood included reduced herd reproductive performance.

However, he had not heard of anyone leaving the industry as a direct impact of the floods, which was "promising".

But there also needed to be longer-term planning around helping those now affected by both the 2011 and 2022 floods to protect them from future floods.

Angus farmer Darrell Phillips, who was asked to talk about the experiences of the people of Echuca Village said it had been an "up and down rollercoaster ride" since the flood event.

"There were some proud times, some mentally draining times, some fatigued times," he said.

He told the inquiry of the tough decisions during the floods as a member of the CFA where he had to deny people fuel or sandbags, and the impact those calls had on him personally.

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"The floods have been over for ten months, but some of us will have to live with things for ten years.

"People aren't going to remember the floods, they're going to remember the calls that myself or some of the members of my brigade made, and we are going to have to live with that."

Mr Philipps said members of his CFA crew had also stood in Echuca "all day bored out their brains counting how many sandbags people put on their trailers," which was a wasted resource when he needed crew in Echuca Village.

The first session of the day was dedicated to a roundtable of mayors and chief executive officers from local councils impacted by the floods.

Campaspe Shire Council mayor Cr Rob Amos said ten months after the event, his council was still providing relief and recovery mode.

He said there was a need for more role clarity between emergency services along with state and local governments, but also told the inquiry about delays in funding and misguided anger toward council workers.

"During the emergency, there was a lack of clarity between the roles and responsibilities between the Victorian government, Emergency Management Victoria, the SES and the council," he said.

"This lack of clarity not only led to confusion and misunderstanding in the community, but it also fueled community angst and directed blame for decisions... towards the Campaspe shire, when these decisions were made by other authorities.

"When these authorities were given the opportunity to take ownership of these decisions, they did not," he said.

He said Campaspe Shire Council did not decide to establish a levee in Echuca and its location when flood levels were rising, and said this was an example of clarity in the community "about who performs what role [and] who makes decisions during an emergency response phase of a disaster."

He said it put the council in the firing line, when SES were the lead agency for emergency response, while council provided emergency relief centres.

"This role delineation is not well understood by most people in the community," he said.

Chief executive owner of Loddon Shire Council Lincoln Fitzgerald said there needed to be more trust in local government with funding for road repairs and community rebuilding.

He said a projection of $4 million worth of restoration repairs for roads and infrastructure to be done by the end of the year by his council was not coming fast enough.

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"Loddon Shire produces a billion dollars of agricultural product," he said.

"We need to get that to port [and] we need to get that to where it's consumed."

Many throughout the day also urged the urgent need for further mental health support workers and the lack of resources for the SES and support for current standing floodwater that remained on properties ten months on.

A report from the inquiry is expected in June 2024.

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