Flash floods leave mark on Great Ocean Road

The cottage in Separation Creek on the Great Ocean Road was supposed to be a sanctuary for Martin Pirc and partner Melanie Wood. It was their place of recovery from the pandemic and particularly the stresses it caused in the hospitality industry in which Pirc works.

For Wood, especially, the house provided solace and healing after the death of her adult son Thomas in 2022. The couple bought the house a few months after the tragedy and were drawn to its unusual character.

Their property straddles Separation Creek with the single-bedroom cottage on one side that was connected by a short wooden bridge to a bungalow beside the opposite bank.

In May 2024, they started planting an indigenous garden to “rewild” their property. They planted native shrubs, bushes and trees with the help of the local landcare group and community volunteers.

It became something of a local attraction and passers-by would stop and remark on the rejuvenated garden. Sometimes the couple received encouraging comments at the nearby pub in Wye River.

“People just complimented us on what we’d achieved,” Pirc said. “And that felt heartening. People would stop, walk up the beach and take photos.”

They would spot wildlife from their verandah. One day, they watched a cormorant devour an eel it fished from the creek.

But on January 15, the couple watched in dismay as their beloved garden washed away in a surging torrent of floodwater that transformed Separation Creek from a gentle and narrow waterway into a raging and destructive force.

They looked on helplessly while the surging creek engulfed their wooden verandah and flooded the bungalow on the opposite bank.

“We’ve lost all the new indigenous garden,” Wood said.

Although the floodwater reached knee height in their driveway, it remained slightly below floor level of their house. But it carved hefty chunks of land from their property.

The sudden downpour on that Thursday afternoon washed more than a dozen cars into the ocean from camping grounds at Cumberland and Wye rivers. Tents, caravans, clothes, tree ferns and logs gushed down the rivers en masse and onto the beach.

Hundreds of campers were evacuated from flooded sites in Cumberland River, Wye River and Lorne. The devastation has triggered debate about the adequacy of warnings issued to communities and visitors in those locations.

Miraculously, nobody was killed or seriously injured. But community leaders, campers and disaster experts have since observed that if the flood had arrived at night, it may have taken many lives.

At Wye River, general store manager Shaun McKinlay was working on the Thursday when heavy rain began pooling in a large puddle outside the business.

“Then I could see this ooze of muddy water filling up the playground area next to the cafe,” he said. “I turned to my workmate said, ‘Get everyone out of here ASAP.’”

They rushed everyone out of the building, leaving plates of food and unfinished coffees on the tables, as floodwater gushed inside. On Tuesday last week, there were still meat patties sitting on the grill and chips in the fryer of the kitchen.

McKinlay estimated it could be months before the general store, which serves as a post office, shop and cafe, is back in business.

Despite the expected recovery time, McKinlay urged visitors to return to the Great Ocean Road. He said the Wye Beach Hotel was open and businesses along the coast needed a boost after bushfires in the Otways prompted a downturn in visitors.

“For the sake of the Great Ocean Road community at large, I’d love to see people coming down to the area,” he said.

Wye River CFA captain Andy Hack had been working in his property maintenance business when he received a message from his daughter saying the general store was being evacuated. Shortly afterwards, two cars were seen floating down the river.

His crew was the first emergency service to arrive at Wye River. He said 50 millimetres of rain fell at Wye River, which could cause minor flooding. But higher up in the Otways, about 180 millimetres fell at Mount Cowley, which quickly overwhelmed the waterways below.

Hack said the rain falling in Wye River provided little indication of what was to come. He wants authorities to consider introducing a new warning system that is triggered by sensors high up in the catchment, so people below are not caught unaware when a flood is bearing down.

“We have the technology,” he said.

Hack worries that the result would have been deadly had the flood arrived in darkness.

Wye River resident Roy Moriarty, who co-ordinates a local volunteer group, said dozens of people descended on the beaches to do the initial clean-up before agencies arrived.

“Once they dropped off skips, we’d already moved rubbish above the tide line,” he said.

They gathered all manner of objects from eskies and fridges to sleeping bags and shoes. “Anything anybody camps with was down there.”

During the week, a specialist crew used a helicopter to remove the cars that were washed onto beaches at Wye and Cumberland rivers.

Colac Otway Shire Mayor Jason Schram is also calling for an improved warning system, saying people in the region received alerts on the VicEmergency app during or even after the flood had arrived.

He said the amount of rain that fell at Mount Cowley indicated a flood was inevitable.

“There wasn’t enough warning,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Victoria State Emergency Service said record-breaking rain had caused the flash flooding and rapid run-off in steep terrain.

The spokesperson said the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 11.57am, which was upgraded 43 minutes later to include the potential for very dangerous thunderstorms and flash flooding. That warning triggered a “watch and act” alert from VicSES at 12.58pm via VicEmergency.

VicSES said Triple Zero received its first call at 1.08pm. It then issued an “emergency warning – take shelter now” at 2:36pm, followed by an emergency alert two minutes later that was delivered to more than 10,000 mobile phones and landlines.

“Warnings were issued in line with current operational arrangements and were as timely as possible based on the information available at the time,” the spokesperson said.

A warmer atmosphere, which holds more water, is increasing the frequency of intense rainfall and the threat of flash flooding in the Otway Ranges and across Australia, according to Natural Hazards Research Australia chief executive Andrew Gissing. He said caravan parks and campsites were particularly vulnerable.

Gissing said catchments along the Great Ocean Road were small and steep with narrow floodplains, making them susceptible to flash flooding. A flash flood swept Wye River in 1985, washing about 40 caravans into the sea.

Gissing said flash floods were more difficult to predict than slower rising riverine floods.

“Provision of warnings is challenged by erosion of trust in institutions and the communication of extreme events without historical precedent,” he said.

Richard Riordan, Liberal MP for Polwarth, whose electorate covers the Great Ocean Road, called for fast-tracked clean-up efforts, reliable early flood warning systems and a waiver on rubbish fees.

“This is about backing regional Victorians in their time of need and ensuring our communities can recover, rebuild and move forward with confidence,” he said.

A spokesperson for the government said its response to emergencies “always gets scrutinised” to see what worked and how it could be improved. The spokesperson said the government was working with the Surf Coast and Colac Otway councils to understand what further assistance they needed.

Greg Buliff was playing cards in his tent at Cumberland River when the flash flood bore down. He managed to escape to higher ground, but his wife’s car was dragged hundreds of metres away and into the ocean.

Buliff, an electorate officer with a government MP, said there was no time to gather their belongings.

“You literally ran with the clothes on your back,” he said.

Despite the terrifying ordeal, Buliff is committed to returning to the campsite next year. The campers set up a WhatsApp group to support each other, including a psychologist who has offered help with debriefing.

“The camaraderie with [campsite] neighbours has been really solidified,” Buliff said.

Lorne cafe owner Leon Walker hopes visitors return to help boost coastal economies. He said tourists would always be drawn to Lorne’s natural beauty, but the threat of flood and fire remained in the back of his mind.

“Climate change, regardless of whether you believe it or not, is here,” he said.

As the excavators cleared the bungalow, enormous logs and debris from their property during the week, Martin Pirc and Melanie Wood were still trying to determine the way forward.

Wood also stresses the point that her neighbours were hit hard and suffered damage, including one neighbour who lost two bridges.

Pirc and Wood have had discussions with the local water authority about remediating the creek, which lifted their spirits.

The prospect of facing it all again sometimes seems overwhelming, particularly for Wood, including the stress of rebuilding their home. But they have come to love the community, which has embraced them in return.

“The community has just been so incredible, showing so much love and care,” Wood said.

And so, the pair are determined to face the challenges of rebuilding rather than just walking away from the cottage home and community that means so much to them.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.