Evacuated residents given all clear after Echunga dam crisis eases
Echunga residents who evacuated due to the threat of flooding from a dam at risk of collapse have been told they can return home after the catchment’s water was pumped out to a level considered safe.
Emergency workers inspect a collapsed part of a farm dam wall at Echunga on Wednesday. Photo: AAP/Matt Turner
The SES this morning said the “risk of a dam failure in Echunga has reduced” and residents could return to their properties.
More than 30 residents were forced to seek emergency accommodation overnight due to concerns a wall of the dam, which held up to 10 million litres dam on a property on the town’s outskirts, could fail and flood properties below.
An aerial shot of the dam showing its proximity to Echunga properties. Image: Google Maps
Engineers headed to the site this morning after the dam’s water was reduced by over two metres overnight.
The emergency began late Tuesday afternoon when an alarm was raised that a wall of the dam was at “high risk” of collapse.
SES crews brought in four high output water pumps to lower the water level. The operation had to be done with care, with water released at a rate that did not exceed the capacity of the town’s drainage system and risk flooding.
Echunga residents sandbag their home on Wednesday. Photo: AAP/Matt Turner
While many residents evacuated, gathering at the local sports club and finding alternative accommodation overnight, the SES said that occupants of 14 properties refused to leave.
The SES will give an update on the dam this afternoon.
