Rivervue flood disaster blamed on ‘recognisable and avoidable’ government failures

2 weeks ago 4

The flooding of the Rivervue Retirement Village in 2022 was caused by flawed flood modelling and government failures, a damning investigation by the Victorian Ombudsman has found.

Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath’s report, When the water rises, tabled in parliament on Wednesday, follows an investigation by The Age that first exposed how 47 villas in the Avondale Heights retirement village were allowed to be built on a floodplain.

Rivervue Retirement Village during floods in 2022.

Baragwanath called on the Victorian government to compensate the residents, many of whom lost their sense of security and whose homes may have been cut in value when the Maribyrnong River breached its banks during severe flooding in Melbourne’s west in October 2022.

“The flooding of Rivervue homes stems from failures by the state,” Baragwanath said. “Residents, through no fault of their own, are now left significantly out of pocket and forced to spend their retirement in a flood-prone area.”

The report found that Melbourne Water’s modelling in the early 2000s was “rushed and flawed” and, when coupled with mistakes in building plans, led to vulnerable retirees living in a known flood hazard area. Baragwanath said these mistakes were “recognisable and avoidable”.

“Melbourne Water’s rushed and flawed flood modelling used during early site development under-predicted flooding. This meant homes were set too low from the start. Mistakes in approved building plans saw some homes built lower still, without a full safety buffer,” the report found.

Rae and Colin Waters were left devastated by the 2022 floods.

The finding follows extensive reporting by The Age, which revealed in the aftermath of the 2022 floods that Melbourne Water had signed off on the removal of a flood overlay at the site in 2015.

That decision allowed the village’s owner, Tigcorp, to build homes with lower floor levels than previously required.

During the flood, brown water surged through the village, inundating 47 homes and displacing 70 residents.

Among them was Colin Waters, who told a parliamentary inquiry the event destroyed his sense of safety. On Wednesday morning, Waters said he and wife Rae had been left devastated by the floods and remained angry that no compensation had ever been offered to them.

“We’re pleased to be vindicated in what we said all along, but we’re bitterly disappointed that, being part of the western suburbs, we are just being ignored by the government,” he said.

While the Ombudsman found residents at the nearby Kensington Banks estate – which has been affected by new flood overlays – were victims of climate change and lagging updates to modelling, the situation at Rivervue was distinctly man-made.

Baragwanath argued that while she does not recommend compensation lightly, “in this case, it is the fair thing to do”.

“Climate change is an urgent priority, and we need to start preparing for the likely impacts on the places we live, work, study and play,” she said.

Rivervue Retirement Village during the 2022 floods.

The Allan government has been contacted for comment.

A statement by the Ombudsman before the release of the floods report indicated that while the government accepted most of the report’s 13 recommendations regarding better planning and community information, it has not accepted the recommendation to compensate flood-affected residents.

“The Victorian government is yet to accept two important recommendations focused on compensation for flood-affected residents and establishing a resilience program,” it said.

“Having set out the evidence, I hope the Victorian Government accepts our recommendations for support for people impacted by flood risks,” Baragwanath said.

The report also emphasised the need for high-quality flood risk information to be available to the community to prevent similar disasters in the future.