Locals band together as floods arrive in Echuca

McKenzie St, on the east side of the Campaspe River, became one of the front lines in the battle against the floodwaters.

Thousands of sandbags were stacked down the middle of the road to try and protect as many properties from the incoming floodwaters as possible.

Emergency crews, volunteers and locals spent hours upon hours building the wall, which stretched for hundreds of metres down McKenzie St, around the corner and up Eyre St.

It was a line of defence that wasn’t there when the water levels rose back in 2011, and while it unquestionably helped some, it could not protect all homes from the torrent that came on Sunday morning.

On one side, there was almost half a metre of water. On the other, barely anything.

George was one of the lucky ones. His property on McKenzie St is on the east side of the sandbag wall and fortunately escaped the flooding.

George and his son, Peter, were out the front of his house, watching as the sandbags kept the water away from his property.

“I have been here in this house for 60 years and I’ve never seen it this high,” George said.

He detailed how quickly the water came.

“At 5pm Saturday afternoon there was no water there,” he said, pointing across the road and to the flooded paddock.

“Ten hours later, it was swamped. In 2011 it reached the driveway but never got into the house. This must be a lot higher than what it was.”

With the current floods even worse than those almost 12 years ago, things could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the sandbags, and Peter said they “definitely” made a huge difference.

“Otherwise the water would be up on the nature strip and maybe even higher, if it wasn’t for the sandbags,” he said.

“It was 6.30pm and there wasn’t a drop of water in the paddock. At 2.15am, there was water everywhere.”

While George’s house and the others on his side of the street escaped the floodwaters, the news was not as fortunate across the road.

One home in particular was left totally encircled, with water from the Campaspe swamping over the sandbag wall built around it and flooding not only the yard, but the home itself.

The community had done everything it could to try to protect the home, which belongs to an elderly woman.

Family members and volunteers spent three days getting ready for the incoming flood, digging trenches and placing hundreds of sandbags all around the home, with the wall a metre high in some areas.

Sadly, it was not enough.

As the torrent came, water eventually flowed over the defences and into the house.

Eileen, the partner of one of the homeowner’s grandsons, said the scene was devastating.

“It is insane,” Eileen said.

“The water is in the house. I don’t know what you do about it apart from watch and try to help everyone else.

“It is heartbreaking.”

She said family members and volunteers had done everything they could to try and protect the home.

“On Friday alone they were there from seven in the morning well into the evening,” she said.

“They put everything up on bricks, they got stuff out of the shed, sandbagged all around the property and around the windows and doors.

“Inside they lifted everything up on bricks. Hopefully it is okay. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“I just hope everyone else is okay and keeping safe and it would be great if everyone can help each other out with the clean-up.”