Repairs to Southern Rural Water’s Cowwarr Weir are complete, one year on from major flooding that caused substantial damage to the waterway, weir and recreational facilities.
“The flood event in June 2021, saw a peak flow of 73 billion litres a day of water pass through the weir and had a significant impact on our catchments, infrastructure and customers,” Southern Rural Water Managing Director Cameron FitzGerald said.
The weather system that hit Gippsland from 9 to 10 June 2021 dropped between 50 to 210mm across much of the region, causing severe flooding in the Latrobe, Thomson and Macalister River catchments.
“This was the worst flood at the weir since 2007 and the fourth largest since the weir became operational in 1958,” Mr FitzGerald said. “The extreme rainfall washed a torrent of mud, timber and other debris into the Cowwarr Weir. Crews from Southern Rural Water and contractors, removed tens of thousands of tonnes of debris, including stone and silt and countless pieces of timber, most of which was large trees and logs.”
Works have included the removal of the debris from Cowwarr Weir park grounds, desilting the weir pool and downstream dissipator, returning the edge of the pool to a safe condition, arborist work to make damaged trees safe, road repairs, fencing repairs, and walkway replacements.
“I’d like to thank our staff for their dedication in repairing the weir, the waterway’s banks and the recreational facilities so that the community and customers can enjoy its benefits,” Mr FitzGerald said. Cowwarr Weir provides irrigation water to farmers and growers in the Macalister Irrigation Area.