Avoca Flood Aid

Participants:

Wayne – Prado

Christophe & family – Jackaroo

Rick & family – Pathfinder

 

Following a request from the Pyrenees Shire to Four Wheel Drive Victoria for assistance in clearing up properties after the floods in the Avoca area, three families from our Club answered the call.

The Shire arranged camping for us at the Moonambel Reserve, which is about 20 kms north west of Avoca.

A new multi-purpose hall/clubrooms had recently been built with clean toilets and the best shower facilities I have had in all my camping days. We shared the Reserve with a group from the Idlers 4WD Club.

Wayne, who had arrived mid Friday, contacted the Shire Works Coordinator and met with the farmer who lived at the small town of Natte Yallock, out oavoca3n the Avoca – Bealiba road.

Glenda, Luke and I arrived about 8.30pm on Friday and Christophe and family met us on Saturday morning at the farm. The owners of the property, Lee and Margaret, were staying in Maryborough until they could return to their house after it had been flooded out for the second time in three months.

In fact, they had just had the carpet re-laid from the first flood, from which they had to be winched to safety by helicopter. Lee indicated that the property had been owned by his family since 1928 and the two recent floods were the first they had experienced.wayne1

Our job was to remove all the debris, including large logs, from against the wire and star picket fences. The fences had been flattened by the debris which was up to 40cms thick in places.

We soon realised the use of a drag chain attached to a four wheel drive was the most efficient way to lift sections of a fence. The star pickets were then put back with on old 10lb hammer.

Each morning we set out at 8.00am. On Saturday we worked until about 3.00pm as it was very hot. Sunday was forecast to be 40°, so we decided to work in the morning onlywayne3.

After that, we showered, packed and returned home, exhausted but happy to have helped in a small way. Over the two days, we managed to repair many hundreds of metres of fencing and the owners were grateful for our efforts.

Rick