A blocked Merri River and above average rain has flooded Lake Pertobe, leaving a paddle boat operator struggling keep his business afloat.
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Water is lapping at the edge of the Warrnambool Paddle Boat and Canoe Hire shed and the jetty has been under water for three weeks.
Ken Hooke, who runs the tourist attraction, said he couldn’t operate his business properly because of the flooding.
“About three weeks ago water went over the jetty and you couldn’t use it anymore. Even when it gets close, it gets slippery because the water laps through the cracks in the boards,” he said.
He said while the jetty may be inundated by water twice a year, it was not to this extreme.
Rain during May was more than twice the monthly average with 140.4mm recorded compared to the average of 67.2mm.
It is the highest May rain in 16 years – with 141mm of rain recorded in 2000 – and follows six months of below average rain.
Three years ago, the flooding at Lake Pertobe was even worse with water flowing inside the boat shed, Mr Hooke said. On Friday, he put the counter and everything in the shed on blocks and bricks in case that happened again.
“It’s because the river blocks and they don’t open it,” he said.
“Here it banks back up from the river and comes back into the lake instead of going out to the sea.
“The problem will be solved, if they open the river. It still takes a week at least for the water to go down, there’s so much of it. So we still can’t operate for a week or two after they open it.”
He said tourists had told him parts of the walking track around Lake Pertobe had also been flooded.
When the jetty floods, they can still operate by dragging the boats onto the grass but not when the water is as high as it is now, he said.
“It’s too shallow. No one can walk along there to get in the boats anyway. It’s too slippery,” he said.
Mr Hooke said authorities should open the river mouth as soon as it starts to affect businesses.
He approached Warrnambool City Council on Friday to ask when the river mouth was going to be unblocked.
Glenelg Hopkins Management Authority chief executive Kevin Wood said monitoring water levels and impacts on infrastructure would continue, along with liaison with Warrnambool council and Parks Victoria.
“Water levels in Lake Pertobe are high as discharge from the lake has slowed because of the high water level in the Merri River estuary,” he said. “The Merri River at Stingray Bay usually opens naturally when flow in the river increases.”