Storm fails to rain on King Valley's parade

Steve Kelly

CHESHUNT: Water over the King River Road at Cheshunt on Thursday morning was expected to clear by Friday morning with the road due to reopen. PHOTO: Anita McPherson

BAD TIMING: Water was yesterday encroaching on Gentle Annie Caravan and Camping Reserve ahead of the long weekend. PHOTO: Anita McPherson

DAMP: Water inundated the Genle Annie Caravan and Camping Reserve's toilet block.

FETCH: A large gum tree fell on the Mitchell Avenue dog park fence. Council will ramp up its monitoring of unsafe trees following the heavy rain. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling

IN WAITING: A large pool of water lies in the foreground of Apex Park but riverflows are not likely to impact the area too much further. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling

SEVERAL trees down and major flooding at the Cheshunt bridge wasn't enough to upset the lead up to the King's Birthday long weekend for most accommodation providers, with thousands of tourists booked in to enjoy the fruits of the region.

The Weekend Fit for a King will return to the King Valley wine region for the first time since 2019 and crowds are athirst to savour the grand experience of the event's festivities, with zero rain forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

It's a different story than the 24 hours until 9am Thursday, when 112mm was recorded at Cheshunt, prompting a major flood alert and closure of the King River Road near the bridge, expected to reopen early this (Friday) morning.

"There was less than a foot of water over the road but we expect the road to reopen by first thing Friday morning with no more rain on the way," Rural City of Wangaratta council director of community and infrastructure, Marcus Goonan, said on Thursday afternoon.

"We expect the King River to get to the lower levels of major and I don't see this causing us any huge concerns and this won't flow through into Wangaratta at any concerning rate either.

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"We have council staff at Cheshunt, it's not significant by any means, and we'll just keep that road closed as a precaution."

One accommodation provider Gentle Annie Caravan and Camping Reserve wasn't so lucky, with 90 per cent of the park, including the toilet block, inundated by water.

"We were busy calling about 40 people on Thursday morning, cancelling bookings and refunding money - the show's over," park manager John Perry said.

"There is a heap of debris in the King River which has elevated the flow and diverted the water to the other side of the river, impacting our park."

Council and SES responded to several trees down overnight on Wednesday with the latter attending to trees over road or property, with two at Whitlands, one at Wangaratta South, and one at Tolmie.

A large gum tree fell at the dog park on Mitchell Avenue in Wangaratta causing damage to the fence.

"I heard a report of a tree falling on a car while a motorist was driving to work as well and luckily they are safe," Mr Goonan said.

"People just need to be aware that during these conditions, particularly when there is a bit of wind about like there was on Wednesday night, that gum trees have a habit of falling."

Mr Goonan said council will be ramping up its inspections around public areas such as parklands to monitor the risk of falling trees, for example Merriwa Park, Apex Park and Frank Garth Reserve.

"We're in a good place from a flood point of view, we know our concern points, we've got plans in place and I think the community should be very satisfied with that," he said.

"You can see what we were able to do during the last floods, the town was protected the whole time without incident - we do very much know what we're doing in that flood space."

Rainfall totals at other locations across the district according to the Bureau of Meteorology were Wangaratta with 35.2mm, Edi Upper 49.8mm, Eldorado 46.2mm, Greta West 33.4mm, and Bobinawarrah 27.4mm.

For up to date flood information, visit emergency.vic.gov.au.

For assistance contact SES flood storm emergency on 132 500, or if it's life threatening call triple zero (000).

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