When floods strike, communication is key

More than 100mm of rain fell over the weekend here at Eldorado, in North East Victoria.

This is our creek paddock, with the water entirely covering our flats land on Reedy Creek (over some brand new fencing of course). It’s normally a trickle.

We’ve had a big couple of weeks with power outages, road closures and dodgy phone and internet thanks to ongoing stormy weather.

It’s a big mess, but our locality has been luckier than other areas such as Echuca and Shepparton/Mooroopna and I’m very grateful to still have our home dry and livestock safe. Many cannot say the same across the state at the moment.

I’m incredibly thankful for all the hard working teams and volunteers who have been working around the clock to help however they can.

If anyone is looking for feedback for how to help regions during floods my two cents worth is improve communications.

Information in emergency/extreme situations should be accurate, frequent and easy to understand. People have enough to worry about in these circumstances without trying to make decisions without facts. There is much to improve in this space - for example while I appreciate road closure data is always changing, it’s of utmost importance that it’s correct. This has been a major failing across the state in recent months and must be addressed.

And telcos must ensure that adequate communication services, both phone and internet, are in place so these messages can be received. As our weather keeps throwing more and more challenges our way, we must have the tools to stay safe and informed.
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