On the move: Twenty-plus caravans were on site at Elmore Events Centre late last week, only days after Emergency Recovery Victoria and the Elmore Field Days committee announced the site would be home to displaced flood victims from Rochester.
Thirty-two flood-affected Rochester families are among the first to take up residence at Emergency Recovery Victoria’s Elmore Events Centre site — dubbed Rochester South by an imaginative resident at a community meeting more than a week ago.
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The facility has been designed to provide temporary accommodation for home owners and renters who have been forced out of their Rochester homes because of the four-day October flood event that damaged 90 per cent of the town’s buildings.
Several families have been staying at the Bendigo Relief Centre, while others moved out of the area during the flood.
With the backing of the Elmore Field Days committee, the first of the 229 repurposed caravans and modular units arrived at the site in the middle of last week.
They are expected to provide accommodation for an estimated 420 people in stage one of the project.
Site manager: Hayden Benefield is the project manager for the Johns Lyng Group at the Elmore Field Days site, which will initially be the home for more than 400-flood affected Rochester people.
There are 32 four-bedroom modular units, 75 caravans and 122 two-bedroom units that will be placed on site at the Rosaia Rd fields days site — within an unprecedented time frame.
While numbers are unconfirmed at this stage, disaster recovery and building services provider Johns Lyng (JLG) has been appointed by Emergency Recovery Victoria (ERV) to assist those affected by the ongoing flood disaster.
Hayden Benefield is the site manager and said the whole project was on “fast forward’’, speaking while heavy machinery improved the drenched road network, which had been under constant use during the recent field days event.
JLG has provided services to ERV for several years, including during Victorian bushfire events.
Mr Benefield arrived on the site on Thursday and said several workers on the site had been directly affected by the floods.
“A lot of these guys have been affected, so they understand the urgency of having the site ready as quickly as we can,” Mr Benefield said.
Late last week, and over the weekend, caravans were being set up along Fourth Avenue and services, such as play areas and amenities were being established.
JLG will be involved in providing emergency accommodation for more than 20 local government areas, which have an estimated 30,000-plus homes impacted.
— State and federal government assistance has been accessed by many Rochester residents and remains available to people in the form of ongoing and one-off financial payments.
The Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA) is a short-term payment to help Victorian flood victims whose income has been directly affected by the floods.
A 13-week payment was made available on October 6.
A Federal Government Disaster Recovery Payment of $1000 per adult and $400 per child is available to Campaspe residents until April 27, along with a state government Emergency Relief Payment — equating to about $2000 for a family.
Services Australia has been set up at the Rochester Railway Station to provide assistance in the application process.
More about the establishment of the Rochester South site on Page 3, from Elmore Field Days president Scott Nichol.
Construction site: Recent wet weather, and the three-day field days event, meant the roadwork at Elmore Events Centre required significant attention.
