Hundreds of people have been evacuated from a major camping ground at Wye River in Victoria after a severe thunderstorm caused flash flooding, closed the Great Ocean Road, and washed cars out to sea. More than 170mm of rain fell in the area on Thursday afternoon, triggering emergency warnings for the Wye, Kennett, and Cumberland rivers near Lorne.
Patrice Capogreco, camping with her two daughters at the BIG4 Wye River Holiday Park, described the scene as heartbreaking. “We’ve lost everything, you can see caravans and cars floating away,” she said. “Strangers are hugging strangers.” The family initially tried to escape in their car but were forced to abandon it and climb to higher ground, where they were evacuated by the Country Fire Authority to the Wye River pub, which became a refuge for about 500 people.
Capogreco criticised the lack of warning, saying emergency notifications arrived 30 minutes after they had already evacuated. “What if this had been at night? We would have drowned, the water came so quick,” she said. The Bureau of Meteorology had issued a severe thunderstorm warning at midday, but campers said they were not adequately informed.
The Great Ocean Road was closed in both directions from Skenes Creek to Fairhaven due to extreme weather, flooding, and possible landslips. V/Line coach services were detouring inland, skipping Kennett River and Wye River stops. The local Foodworks grocery store in Lorne also shut due to flooding.
Victoria’s Premier, Jacinta Allan, described the footage from Wye River as “terrifying” and offered thoughts to the affected community. Meanwhile, a bushfire at Carlisle River, which had been burning since the weekend, was still being controlled on Thursday evening.
