Officials from the Bendigo Incident Control Centre were at a community meeting at Echuca South Basketball Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
They announced a plan to remove sections of the levee to allow greater access for people on the ‘wet’ side of the wall, with segments along Pakenham St, Bowen St and Goulburn Rd to be removed.
Once removed, the dirt will be stored nearby, to be added back to the levee should water levels begin to rise.
“One of the critical factors that we want to make clear is how we can facilitate access for all residents that are currently impacted by the levee,” deputy incident controller Jackson Bell said.
“This critical piece of work is about making life as normal as possible from an access point of view.”
Mr Bell said three segments would be removed on Pakenham St, as well as the rounding over of a ramp to allow two-wheel-drive access.
On Goulburn Rd, sections will be removed at the east and west end of the wall, allowing for one-way traffic to drive from east to west on the north side of the wall.
On Bowen St, Mr Bell said segment access would be made in front of each property to help preserve the drainage channel that runs along the street.
Mr Bell said cars would now be able to get in and out, but emphasised that the access would be for residents and local traffic only.
He said work to remove segments of the wall would begin once the river level dropped following the recent rain in the area.
“We are going to propose that work commences once the water level recedes to a height of 94.2m and the associated weather that we are expecting this week has passed,” he said.
Mr Bell said the sections of the wall would be able to be replaced.
“The trigger for that is around 94.6m,” he said.
He added that residents would receive notice about the intent to refill the wall before work began.
But while work to remove sections of the wall could get under way soon, Mr Bell said the levee itself would remain in place for the foreseeable future.
“The Echuca levee is playing a key role in the protection of the community,” Mr Bell said.
“Given the likelihood of increased river rises over the coming weeks, and the critical role that the levee is playing, we will need to keep the levee in place until the risk has passed.
“Once La Nina has died down to a level that we are comfortable with and we are less likely to see significant risk, then we will be removing it. As soon as we can, we will.
“We understand that there is significant disruption to the lives of many in the community and we understand that there has been significant work done to date.”
Kade Dowie, the incident controller at the Bendigo Incident Control Centre, also spoke at the meeting. While river levels are dropping, he said the situation was not over yet.
“We know there is still lots of floodwater still moving through, as we have seen in recent days, the Murray River slowly receding,” Mr Dowie said.
“We are expecting that the Murray River will rise again. Not quite as bad as what it has been or nowhere near what its peak was, but we are expecting to see the middle of this week some Murray River rises which will put a lot more pressure on storm water management and levee walls.
“We are in a good spot at the moment, but there is a fair way to go through for this particular event.”
Also on Saturday, Mr Bell provided an update on the temporary levee at Torrumbarry.
“The Torrumbarry levee is going well,” he said.
“It is being constantly monitored and maintained by crews. We have contractors that are currently working at the site.”
He emphasised that both the Echuca and Torrumbarry levees were not permanent structures.
“These levees are only temporary, both in Torrumbarry and Echuca. They have been erected for the sole purpose of providing protection to the community,” he said.
“Further work to work with the community and discussion around what the longer term plan will be a separate issue.”
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