Aviation assets integral in flood response

In a Victorian first, police in the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) in Williamstown coordinated five aviation assets in the air at once in response to flash flooding along the Great Ocean Road yesterday.

The Air Wing along with two Ambulance Victoria and two Life Saving Victoria aircraft responded during the significant weather event.

Victoria Police was first notified of the onset of flash flooding at Wye and Cumberland Rivers around 1.30pm.

The incident quickly developed into a complex rescue environment which required multiple choppers to operate in a constrained costal corridor.

The RCC coordinated rescue and retrieval activity throughout the afternoon and into the evening, including multiple winch operations and helping people who had become stranded.

Depending on the type of incident and location, coordination responsibilities transitioned across Water Police and Search and Rescue.

The coordinated response included:

• a man aged in his 60s was winched by police Air Wing from the roof of a shed at Cumberland River
• Life Saving Victoria winched a man who was hiking from a hilltop about 1km north west of Cumberland River
• a group of four hikers, including an 88-year-old with a dog, were guided out to the Great Ocean Road by a tactical flight officer who was dropped into the terrain by Air Wing and coordinated by SAR
• the Search and Rescue team also coordinated the rescue and recovery of two four-wheel drives bogged west of Lorne

The Air Wing also lowered an officer down to many of the vehicles, swamped by flood water, to check for occupants of the inundated vehicles.

Across other parts of the state throughout the afternoon the RCC was also coordinating a search for lost hikers in Woolamai, a capsized catamaran in Rye and a paddle boarder in trouble offshore in Edithvale.

Acting Senior Sergeant Julie-Anne Newman

Media Unit

144944