October 2022 Victorian floods

Impact

In October 2022, heavy rain caused widespread flooding and the Bogong landslip, affecting thousands of people across Victoria. Rivers and creeks overflowed, damaging homes, businesses, roads, and essential services.

Many communities lost power, water and phone connections. Road closures and damage cut off towns and properties, making access difficult.

The floods and landslip disrupted daily life, damaged property, affected jobs and businesses, and caused stress and mental health challenges for many people.

Recovery services, wellbeing and support

Visit our recovery services page to see a list of available support to help your recovery journey.

Recovery progress

The damage from the October 2022 Victorian floods and Bogong landslip was widespread, with 63 of Victoria’s 79 municipalities and one alpine resort impacted by the flooding.

We partnered with government and non-government services to respond to recovery needs. We also supported councils through programs and funding to lead local recovery.

Recovery snapshot

Additionally, more than $24 million in emergency relief payments were made directly to individuals to help them buy essential emergency items such as food and clothing.

Flood Recovery Support program

We launched our Flood Recovery Support program in the first days of the October 2022 Victorian floods. The program provided flood-impacted people with a dedicated recovery support worker to help them access recovery supports that they were eligible for.

The Flood Recovery Hotline was set up to manage access into the program and provide recovery support. Since the floods began, we’ve triaged more than 10,000 calls to the Flood Recovery Hotline.

Clean-up program

Our Clean-up program started within days of the October 2022 Victorian floods.

We supported councils with flood debris and waste collection through our Street Debris Removal program. More than 13,000 tonnes of street debris was collected and disposed of.

We worked with Disaster Relief Australia (DRA) to coordinate volunteers to ‘muck out’ flooded homes. Dubbed ‘Operation Mactier’, their work helped community members to access clean-up services, including:

• removing debris such as sludge left by floodwaters from inside a structure
• moving flood-damaged household items to the kerbside for collection.

More than 785 volunteers recorded over 21,000 volunteer hours.

Structural assessments

We provided free structural assessments by independent contractors for eligible properties.

The assessments:

• identified hazards like asbestos or mould
• told property owners if they were eligible for support to have hazards removed for free, or the structure demolished if needed.

Aboriginal cultural heritage management

We assessed all properties that were registered for site works for cultural heritage. Site supervisors also had inductions on Aboriginal cultural management.

Parks Victoria

We are continuing to work with Parks Victoria to clean-up and repair flood-damaged parks. As of April 2023, Parks Victoria reopened or partially reopened 90% of flood and storm-affected parks. You can find up-to-date information on park openings on the Parks Victoria(opens in a new window) website.

Temporary accommodation

Accommodation was an immediate need. Our temporary accommodation program housed more than 2,080 people at:

• hotels
• motels
• caravan parks
• the Centre for National Resilience
• Elmore Village.

The Commonwealth and the Victorian government made the Centre for National Resilience in Mickleham available for emergency accommodation. Opening on 18 October, it provided haven for almost 300 Victorians in the immediate aftermath of the floods.

Elmore Village was established in consultation with the Rochester community. Opening on 29 October, it gave local residents a safe place to stay – close to their homes, work, schools, and community. Each resident had one-on-one transition support, with clear exit pathways to alternative accommodation.

We reused short-term modular houses from its 2019-20 bushfire program to create more affordable longer-term accommodation options for Rochester residents. We installed 20 short-term modular houses at Rochester Caravan Park. These units are provided at an affordable rate for eligible Rochester residents to stay in while they recover.

We supported Aspen Lodge to re-open after the October 2022 Victorian floods(opens in a new window) to create affordable accommodation and housing options for community members displaced from the floods.

Ongoing recovery

The impacts of the October 2022 Victorian floods continue to be felt, and there is still important work to do to help communities rebuild and become stronger.

We are working with local councils and residents through community recovery committees, which give communities a voice in their recovery and help them set local priorities. Our community recovery hubs and community recovery officer programs continue to provide locally-led support and the transition to locally-managed recovery is underway.

Victoria is still recovering from the floods, and we remain committed to providing support that addresses the most pressing needs of people and communities while helping them plan for the future.

Resources

Donate

Donations for this specific event have closed.

If you would still like to make a donation to support communities impacted by natural disasters, please go to not-for-profit donation service GIVIT