Campers Stranded at Flooded Vic Park

Added by on March 24, 2011

Efforts to rescue all of the 400 campers stranded at Wilsons Promontory have had to be halted as night fell on Wednesday, and more than 100 campers have been forced to spend another night in the flooded national park.

The campers are said to have been trapped at the Tidal River campsite in eastern Victoria since Tuesday when flash flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains hit the area and washed away the Darby River bridge.

Although helicopters rescued many campers throughout Wednesday, some 130 people, accompanied by Parks Victoria staff and police, are thought to be left stranded at the camp. Rescue operations will resume at 8am (AEDT) on Thursday morning.

No injuries have been reported and campers who are not able to support themselves are among those rescued first, said Eddie Wright, group manager at Ambulance Victoria.

Wilsons Prom received 370mm of rain on Tuesday night, and although rain will continue to fall on Wednesday night Dean Stewart, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said it will not be as severe as Tuesday’s downpour.

“There is going to be some further passing showers overnight and during tomorrow but nowhere near the types of rainfall that we saw last night,” Mr Stewart said.

Other parts on the state also received heavy rainfall, with Mallacoota reporting 123mm in just a few hours. Moe, Foster and Fish Creek also reported incidents of flooding.

The State Emergency Service said they are now keeping a “close eye” on Victoria’s far east, as major flood warnings have been issued for Snowy River.