Barmah and Lower Moira are under an emergency evacuation warning in anticipation of peaks in Murray River flows.
The warning issued early on Sunday afternoon (October 23) said it was too late for residents to leave Barmah, with the flood expected to impact the Barmah and Lower Moira area.
“We’ve got sodden soils and floodwaters that are right up to the roads, the floor of the Barmah forest is flooded and it’s creeping into the township,” Aunty Geraldine said.
“The river is really high, at levels it was in 1993.”
Aunty Geraldine, a grandson and her unwell husband have travelled to Shepparton to avoid being isolated in Barmah.
“It’s been really stressful, to tell you the truth,” she said.
“We weren’t sure what was going to happen about roads being blocked and being unable to get in to places to get supplies and things, so it’s all been a matter of wait-and-see about what could happen.”
Aunty Geraldine said the community had been working hard to try to protect their homes and other buildings.
“People have been sandbagging madly, looking at protecting the houses that are in Barmah,” she said.
“We’re not sure what is coming next. It’s the not knowing and it really is stressful, the wait and see.”
Aunty Geraldine said the potential for isolation that came with a flood had raised parallels with what the community went through during the pandemic.
“If you want to go into Echuca you have to go into Moama, and Echuca and Moama are flooded, so we don’t even know if they’ll have access to do their shopping to get food and supplies and those sorts of things and even to get to a doctor,” she said.
“So that makes it really difficult and that made it difficult during COVID when we had the roadblocks and lockdowns.
“You can predict things, but you don’t really know until it happens, so it’s really scary.”
