Agriculture
10 February, 2024
Blazeaid flood repair team arrives
BLAZEAID volunteers have started helping Loddon farmers repair fences damaged in the summer storm floods. The emergency recovery organisation set up base camp in Boort this week. Camp co-ordinator Peter Ross said 20 farmers in the Boort, Wedderburn...
BLAZEAID volunteers have started helping Loddon farmers repair fences damaged in the summer storm floods.
The emergency recovery organisation set up base camp in Boort this week.
Camp co-ordinator Peter Ross said 20 farmers in the Boort, Wedderburn and Korong Vale districts had already registered for assistance.
He expects volunteers will be in the Loddon for at least a month.
Mr Ross said the Boort base camp had four trailers equipped with fencing repair and replacement equipment.
“We’d like to have at least 16 people based here in Boort to send full crews out with each trailer.”
One of the first farms with a Blazeaid crew on the job lost 5km of fencing in the floods. Estimates have put farm fences losses at more than 100km across the shire.
Blazeaid has also established a base camp at Goornong with co-ordinators calling for local volunteers to be part of the clean-up effort on farms.
Blazeaid assisted local farmers after the 2011 and 2022 floods in the Loddon when crews were based at Bridgewater.
Meanwhile, the Federal and State Governments on Tuesday announced a $105 million package for emergency roadworks in areas hit by the summer storm floods.
The Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements package also includes expanding the emergency recovery hotline and recovery support program and additional mental health and wellbeing support.
The support services will be available in Loddon Shire.
Wedderburn was the first community hit by floods on Christmas Day.