A flood assault from four fronts impacting on the Burge family properties, and many others, could have been reduced in severity according to Louise Burge.
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Mrs Burge said the impact of the third flood surge to hit their properties last week has highlighted what she sees as a failure of the Murray Darling Basin Authority and the NSW and Federal Governments to adequately plan for the predicted La Nina conditions.
That surge - which measured 179,539 megalitres out of Yarrawonga on November 16 and saw Hume releases meet up with flows out of the Ovens River - flowed over and through levee banks, inundating properties right along the system.
As a result, Mrs Burge and her husband Andrew have lost some sheep to drowning and the vast majority of their crops.
Their properties are bordered by the Edward River, as well as the Native Dog, Tuppal and Bullatake creeks.
“It has been total and utter devastation,” Mrs Burge said.
“We would have only one wheat paddock which is so far still out of the water.
“We have a canola crop we should be able to get something off, but the rest has been lost.
“We have lost all our sheep feed until next autumn.
“We have 3000 sheep stranded on the other side of the creek, that we need to arrange feed helicopter drops for.
“We had some sheep that were moved to higher ground for safety become inundated, and we needed help to get in the water to move them. At least 100 of those were saved from drowning, but we did lose some.
“The sustained force of that third flood broke the levee in that zone, and that was after the flood was receding.
“And we are still at major flood level here.
“There would be thousands upon thousands of hectares across the district suffering crop losses.”
The Burges’ daughters Sophie Burge and Jenny Doak and the family’s neighbour Cameron Tweed had to wade into the flood water to save the sheep.
Assistance was also provided by Richard and Lucy Metcalfe, and Nutrien Ag Solutions stock agent Marc Braybon.
Mrs Burge said the severity of this most recent flood surge, and the two that have preceded it since October, could have been lessened with more appropriate management of the Hume Dam.
It was on September 8 this year that Mrs Burge and Murray Valley Action Group issued a joint press release calling for the air space rule to be implemented at Hume Dam.
It has followed months of requests and “pleading” with the MDBA to implement the rule, which Mrs Burge said should have started in July.
If implemented, the rule would have seen the Hume Dam drawn down to 87 per cent before the flooding and significant rain events began.
Mrs Burge said the MDBA brought the dam down to only 93 per cent instead.
“The air space rule should have been in play in July, August and September because every world model was predicting a La Nina event on the east coast of Australia,” Mrs Burge said.
“I believe creating air space down to 93 per cent is a major political failing of the MDBA and the state and federal governments.
“The Hume must be managed to actual conditions, not a rigid focus of filling the dams despite the risk.
“Implementing the existing air space rule would have allowed more flexible options, and while we would have had a flood either way that decision could have reduced the severity of these floods.
“Because they did not do it, this third flood from Ovens and Hume was a catastrophic disaster.”
Mrs Burge said it is only “sheer luck” that flood two - where the flows measured out of Yarrawonga on November 5 were 126,013ML - was not more damaging for Deniliquin and Echuca.
“In this flood, the Goulburn River came in below Yarrawonga and that is what caused the flooding at Echuca.
“You may remember this is when there were reports of the Murray flowing backwards.
“That backwards flow came through the Edward, creating higher flows and came over levees.
“Higher ground areas that have historically not needed levees were also impacted.
“If a dump of rain had fallen over Hume at the same time, and there needed to be a quick release from the Hume Dam when the Goulburn was entering the Murray, the impacts on Deniliquin and Echuca would have been much worse.
“The management of the dam needs to change, because the cost to the whole district is enormous.”
MDBA executive director of river management Andrew Reynolds said the MDBA “strongly reject claims of mismanagement of Hume Dam”.
Further, he said “claims that an ‘airspace rule’ has not been implemented are inaccurate and misleading”.
“We have already provided significant flood mitigation to communities downstream of Hume Dam,” Mr Reynolds said.
“Over the past six months alone, to today, we have pre-released 5,911 gigalitres (equivalent to 197 per cent of Hume Dam’s total capacity).
“Inflow to Hume Dam has been the highest on record for October and November, with inflow in November more than double the previous record.
Together with the Bureau of Meteorology and the New South Wales and Victorian State Emergency Services, we have been holding regular (often weekly) briefings with landholders and businesses immediately below Hume Dam to provide the latest information on forecasts and releases, and directly answer their questions.“
Mr Reynolds said the MDBA always considers the latest seasonal conditions and outlook in its management decisions.
“Basin state governments set the rules for how Hume and Dartmouth dams are managed, and we have been carefully and closely managing the storages in line with these arrangements.
“Our priority is keeping the Hume and Dartmouth Dams safe, capturing and storing water, and where we can, mitigating floods.
“We are seeing unprecedented rainfall and flooding across large parts of the basin due to the combination of a third La Nina event, and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole.
“Most waterways across the Murray-Darling Basin are full due to higher than average rainfall that’s been experienced over several months.
“Several rivers run into the Murray downstream of Hume Dam including the Kiewa and Ovens and these rivers have been in significant flood in the past few months, contributing to the floodwaters slowly moving through the system.
“Our river operators monitor weather, inflows and forecasts around the clock and manage Hume Dam releases as conditions change.
This includes close collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology, Goulburn-Murray Water and WaterNSW. We consider the wetter outlook in our management decisions.
“Our thoughts are with all those people impacted by the current flooding, including those living in the Murray-Darling Basin.
“We understand the loss of livestock and crops, and the damage to properties on the floodplains is devastating.”
Senior journalist