By Ashok Verma
KILMORE State Emergency Service (SES) members were kept busy last week as bad weather gripped most of Victoria.
It had 40 calls for help during the week.
Unit Controller Steve Caddies said last Tuesday, February 24, was the busiest day the unit had for a while. The unit had 10 calls for help from people across Wallan and Kilmore, with a majority from Wallan.
“It was lucky that it was a training day. We had about 25 members available and all were out actively helping the community with those 10 calls. It seemed to be a little bit short and sharp (regarding) the weather in Kilmore (on Tuesday), that’s for sure. The masses of rain that we were expecting didn’t eventuate to the level that we were sort of anticipating, but that is a good thing. There is more rain coming, but it’s probably not going to be as heavy or as concentrated as it was last night (Tuesday),” Mr Caddies said.
“We had the CFA help us on one particular job as well, so it wasn’t just SES out on jobs. They came and helped us pump out the water from the Woolworths loading dock in Kilmore, which got flooded.
“It didn’t flood inside. It was just the loading dock where the trucks park that got inundated with water and the drains were a bit blocked, so we got the CFA in to help us with their heavy pumping equipment to pump the water out.”
About the calls for help, Mr Caddies said they were mainly about water coming into houses, typically from blocked drains.
“We had a few trees down across roads and the Northern Highway in Wallan also got inundated with water. Police and VicRoads came and put some signs up,” he said.
On Monday, March 2, Deputy Controller Corey Finger said with heavy rain at the weekend, there were 30 calls for help from the public.
They mainly related to flooding and building damage, he said.
Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says the Kilmore Gap at Wallan recorded 19.4mm rain on Tuesday, February 24, compared to 9.4mm the same time last year.
With heavy rain at the weekend and on Monday, March 2, about 50mm of rain was forecast for Kilmore.
According to the BoM, Wallan (Kilmore Gap) recorded its highest total July rainfall on record in July 2025. The station recorded 101mm for the month, exceeding the previous record of 92.6 mm set in 1996.
