Farmers in flood ravaged parts of central Victoria are counting their losses after torrential rains left rivers engorged and crops underwater. The cost of this natural disaster little more than a year after the region was last inundated is estimated to be more than 10 million dollars. Some growers who are still waiting for disaster payments from the last flood are wondering how they'll bounce back.
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00:00 With the season's work on the verge of being completely spoiled, Chloe Fox is clearing
00:08 the canvas.
00:09 Many of her crops, grown for farmers markets and restaurants in Melbourne, are now covered
00:14 in silt after being submerged by torrential floods.
00:18 It's financially devastating.
00:20 We were really on track to start recovering from the previous flood and now it's all gone
00:27 again.
00:28 This was meant to be the year to start over, but instead her farm in Seymour is facing
00:34 $300,000 in losses.
00:37 Since Christmas, rain has devastated crops across central Victoria.
00:42 The water has ended up here in the Goulburn River, creating anxious communities across
00:47 the region.
00:48 Authorities have door-knocked 300 homes in Shepparton, warning that roads will likely
00:53 be cut off.
00:54 But they don't expect houses to be inundated, with the river expected to peak somewhere
00:59 around 10.4 metres, significantly lower than 15 months ago.
01:04 The local crews are really rapt to hear that they're not going to see what they saw in
01:08 2022.
01:10 It's not just the flooding.
01:11 Recent heavy rainfall and hailstorms have already done damage.
01:16 It's thought more than $10 million has been lost in the Goulburn Valley alone, with some
01:21 fruit growers losing their entire crop to the extreme weather.
01:26 At Aipen South, west of Shepparton, David Chernside's farm had a contract to supply
01:31 14,500 tonnes of tomatoes to SPC.
01:36 He spent Christmas surveying the damage.
01:39 And this is what's left.
01:41 Field officers now estimate he's lost 30% of his crops, worth up to $2 million.
01:46 "We've pumped off as much as possible, but the tomatoes that were underwater for more
01:52 than 48 hours are pretty much finished.
01:55 They won't make it through to harvest."
01:57 For the flood-fatigued farmers like Chloe Fox, the fear is that this natural disaster
02:03 will soon be wiped from minds.
02:05 "I know this flood looks less devastating than the last time, so there's less attention
02:11 on it.
02:12 I worry it's going to get forgotten."
02:14 A plea to remember.
02:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]