General News
8 March, 2026
Charlton residents watched on as river levels threatened to rise
Charlton recorded 29.6ml on the last day of February, 14ml on March 1, and 43.8ml on Tuesday.
TOWNSHIPS along the Avoca River held their breaths over the weekend and earlier in the week as rain soaked the state.
Although a welcome relief for a lot of farmers and gardeners, the extensive rain across the Wimmera and Mallee brought slight concern as water levels began to rise.
The warnings first started coming into place on Friday evening as forecasts spoke of significant rainfall.
According to VicEmergency, in the 48hrs to 9am Sunday, 28.6mm of rain was recorded at Yawong Weir.
Since 9am on Sunday, 7.2mm has been recorded at Yawong Weir and 9.4mm at Charlton.
This sent alerts into overdrive as the Avoca River reached 2.63m
While this does sit below the town’s minor flood level of 4m, further rain later on in the week could bring levels up that high or further.
At the time of print for the NCN Herald, the Avoca was sitting at 2.74 m and steady
Other townships in the region weren’t so lucky.
Donald residents, some of whom sit on the Avon-Richardson rivers, saw water reaching their streets, causing a sandbag station to be set up in town.
As of 4.30pm on Monday, the Richardson River in Donald sat at 0.43 m and rising, below the minor flood level.
With forecast rainfall, there was potential for the Richardson River to reach around the minor flood level (2.20 m) from overnight Monday into Tuesday.
Lynda Rumbold, who lives on property outside Wycheproof, said they had received 76ml of rain between Friday night and Monday.
“The sounds from the wildlife at the dam is amazing,” she said.
“We’ve got another 9ml in the gauge now [Monday night].”
In the three days leading to Tuesday, St Arnaud recorded 80.7ml of rain.
Charlton recorded 29.6ml on the last day of February, 14ml on March 1, and 43.8ml on Tuesday.
At 12.51pm yesterday, the flood warning on the Avoca River was removed with the threat of water rising reduced.
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